archive: September 2012  |  view all recent posts

2-year Anniversary of Mark's death - September 29, 2012

Unlike last year, we will not hold any formal balloon release ceremonies this year on the anniversary of Mark's death.

If you do a balloon release, Memorial push-ups, drink a Chick-fil-A milkshake, skydive, or any other event to honor Mark on this day, please share your news and pictures. Also, if you do a balloon release, please attach a note stating the purpose and directing whoever finds the balloon to Mark's web site and ask them to comment, telling us where they found the balloon. You can see some responses from last years releases by clicking the link in the first paragraph.

We thank you for your continued support and for honoring Mark. Please continue to honor him by honoring all our military, past and present. We never want to forget him, his example, and his service.

Also, we are still working on a book on Mark's life. It will be a straightforward biography, which will be released in the next year.

When I look at this picture, I see two proud parents and loyal son - focused on his upcoming tasks to eliminate terrorists. After all, this was taken a few weeks before his deployment. He was determined to excel at his assignment and was in the best physical shape of his life.

Below is friend Michael Andrew releasing a balloon on the beach in Maui. He and Mark spent a lot of time together when Mark was in college at UA.

Our family released balloons too--some in Destin, FL and some in Haleyville. We also ate at Chick-Fil-A, and then Dad, Terri, and Thad went skydiving again. It was a fun day. This is us after landing. In the picture is Matty, who jumped with Terri. He is a TACP in the USAF and knew Mark. He, and all the folks at Skydive Alabama, are very nice and they were grateful for Mark's service. They even let us release a balloon from about 13,000 feet in the air.

Mark loved skydiving and made his first jump right here at Skydive Alabama (this was before he got paid to jump from planes). The owners and employees here are great Americans and we highly recommend using them.

Flag at half staff at the Forester home.

American Fallen Soldiers Project - Mark's portrait presentation

On November 16, 2012, artist Phil Taylor will present our family with a portrait of Mark at a special ceremony at the new Veteran and Military Affairs Building at The University of Alabama. This has been in the works for well over a year and we are grateful to Phil for sharing his talent with us. He spends much of his time painting portraits for the families of our fallen heroes. In fact, he presents them all over the country every week. His portraits capture the heroes in a moving way, especially in their eyes.

Here are the details of Mark's presentation:

Friday, Nov 16
2:00 - 4:00
Grand Opening Ceremony, Veteran and Military Affairs Office
1 BB Comer
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
Open to the public

Describing Mark's portrait, he says: "he looks wonderful, finally!"... "Mark's very presence will be revealed soon."

To see an example of what Phil does, click here.

According to Phil, the video below sums up "who we are, how it started, the process, and effect on families"...

To give an idea of how Mark's ceremony will be, below is a ceremony from an event honoring Navy SEAL CPO Brian Bill:

Phil has recently been nominated for The Rare Life Award, which is given to those who exhibit Courage, Leadership, Survival, Heroism, Devotion and/or Character. He has been nominated for his devotion and commitment to bringing comfort to the grieving families of our fallen military men and women through his paintings. To learn more about this and to vote for Phil, click here.

Alabama Legislature Medal of Honor

We attended the Alabama Sports Festival State Games Opening Ceremony on June 22, 2012 in Birmingham. This is a program to develop grassroots Olympic-style competitions and expose athletes, volunteers and spectators of all ages, especially our youth, to Olympic sports and the overall Olympic experience. It is an educational awareness program that encourages Alabamians to develop healthy, active lifestyles and eating habits.

One part of the ceremony is to honor the Wounded Warriors, Disabled Veterans, and Fallen Service Members from our state. Each person in this group is presented with a medal, which is pictured below. Since Mark is one of our Fallen Service Members, I represented him. There were hundreds, if not more, in attendance who fell into these categories.

To learn more about the ASF Foundation, and the ceremony where Mark, and all our heroes from Alabama were honored, click HERE. There is even a section called "Honoring our Heroes".