{"id":1603,"date":"2014-04-09T12:31:16","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T17:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicaffairs-sme.com\/pressrelease\/?p=1603"},"modified":"2014-04-09T14:47:25","modified_gmt":"2014-04-09T19:47:25","slug":"seven-years-later-exchange-helps-deceased-soldiers-family-track-down-final-memento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicaffairs-sme.com\/pressrelease\/?p=1603","title":{"rendered":"Seven Years Later, Exchange Helps Deceased Soldier\u2019s Family Track Down Final Memento"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"13610141305_ff13ddda97_b\"<\/a><\/p>\n

DALLAS \u2013<\/b>When a Columbia, S.C., family reached out to the Fort Jackson Exchange to track down jewelry purchased by their son, a soldier who was killed in action in Iraq in 2007, several members of the Army & Air Force Exchange Service team came together to make sure the family would have a lasting memory.<\/p>\n

Harry and Kum White\u2019s<\/a> son Pfc. Anthony James White, 20, served in Iraq with the 82nd<\/sup> Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C. Pfc. White died in Iraq in March 2007, just days after placing a deposit on two engraved necklace gold charms from Camp Warhorse.<\/p>\n

Harry White, a retired sergeant major who served in the Army for 30 years, had held off going through his son\u2019s belongings for years and had recently found the receipt showing an unpaid balance for the charms. He turned to the Fort Jackson Exchange to help him get in touch with the vendor so he could recover one last memory of his son.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the Exchange at Fort Jackson and asked, \u2018Can anyone help me?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI was shocked the Exchange went out on a limb to do this for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

White was put in touch with Carol Lamb, a services operations assistant at the Fort Jackson Exchange, and her supervisor, Della Hannah. They immediately began tracking down the jewelry vendor in Iraq.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe so desperately wanted that jewelry because of the connection to his son,\u201d Lamb said. \u201cI told him I\u2019d do everything I could to help him.\u201d<\/p>\n

To try to find the jewelry vendor, Lamb and Hannah reached out to Hannah Kaetterhenry, an Exchange services business tech in Afghanistan. Kaetterhenry, in turn, contacted Camisha Smith, an Exchange services business manager in Kuwait to find the vendor, Lone Star.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made this one of my top priorities,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI was just doing my job, helping to make sure the family could have a piece of their son\u2019s history\u2014something their son wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on the receipt information, Smith contacted Lone Star\u2019s headquarters in Fahaheel, Kuwait, and confirmed it sold jewelry in Iraq from 2003-11. Smith sent Lone Star a copy of the Soldier\u2019s receipt, and the vendor offered to remake the charms for White for free.<\/p>\n

The charms were sent to Smith, who mailed them to White. One charm bears the name \u201cAlecia\u201d on one side, with the Arabic equivalent on the other. The second charm reads \u201cCierra\u201d in English and Arabic. Both charms were meant to be gifts for friends of Pfc. White. The charms are now on display in the Whites\u2019 home, with other mementos of their son.<\/p>\n

For White and his wife, receiving the mementoes of their son\u2019s time in Iraq was bittersweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re happy that the jewelry was re-created, but we\u2019re sad he\u2019s not here to spend time with us. My son was a joyful young man who left this world too soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Exchange team, the ability to help a slain Soldier\u2019s parents reinforces the Exchange\u2019s mission to serving customers and treating them like family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really glad we were able to help Mr. White,\u201d Lamb said. \u201cHelping someone preserve the memories of a lost child is an awesome thing to be able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

— 30 —<\/p>\n

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service is a joint nonappropriated fund instrumentality of the Department of Defense and is directed by a Board of Directors which is responsible to the Secretaries of the Army and the Air Force through the Service Chiefs of Staff. \u00a0The Exchange has the dual mission of providing authorized patrons with quality merchandise and services at competitively low prices and generating non-appropriated fund earnings as a supplemental source of funding for military morale, welfare and recreation programs. To find out more about the Exchange history and mission or to view recent press releases please visit our Web site at http:\/\/www.shopmyexchange.com<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Media Notes:<\/b><\/p>\n

For more information or to schedule an interview with an Exchange representative please contact Julie Mitchell, 214-312-3327\"\"<\/a><\/span> or mitchelljul@aafes.com.<\/p>\n\t

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