People gathered on the Monongalia County court house square on Saturday in remembrance of WVU student, avid bicyclist, surf guitar enthusiast and soldier Gene Vance Jr. – the first American causality in Afghanistan during the early days of the war of terror 21 years ago.
The annual observance coincided with the 2023 edition of U.S. Armed Forces Day.
Proclamations were read, wreathes were placed and the last American flag to fly over Camp Vance, a military encampment in Afghanistan named in honor of the fallen soldier, was raised in his adopted hometown of Morgantown.
Vance, a military veteran and newlywed who had put off his honeymoon to rejoin the service after Sept. 11, was critically wounded in a fierce fire fight in Afghanistan.
He managed to rescue several of his fellow soldiers – even as he was bleeding to death.
Many of his acquaintances in University City, where he lived and worked when he wasn’t going off to war zones, only learned of his military exploits after his death.
He was a Special Forces operative fluent in Farsi. He had previously fought in the Gulf War and was recognized with a Bronze Star for battlefield bravery.
“For the longest time, I just knew him as ‘Gene,’” one of his cycling buddies said, after the news broke.
“Nothing else.”
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