Photo by Gary Lloyd.
The bronze bust of Army Sgt. Jason Stegall, molded by retired Army Col. Lee Busby, seen at Civitan Park in Trussville. Stegall, who died in 2009, earned a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts for his life-saving actions while on active duty.
The first bronze bust of a Trussville veteran was recently added to the Trussville Veterans Memorial at Civitan Park.
The bust of Army Sgt. Jason Stegall, who died in 2009, was unveiled in the park May 30. The bronze bust is the result of approximately $11,000 in donations and the passion of Navy veteran Mark Davis, the founder of the Alabama Fallen Warriors Project. The bust was molded by retired Army Col. Lee Busby and cast at the University of Alabama.
“He’s got a God-gifted talent,” Davis said of Busby.
Stegall died in December 2009 after returning to the United States from Iraq and developing a case of swine flu while stationed in Texas. Doctors put him in a medically induced coma to fly him to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, but he had a bad reaction to his medicine and never woke up from the coma, his wife, Ashley Stegall, said. He died at Georgetown University Hospital about a week later, she said.
While Jason Stegall was on an 18-month tour in Iraq, he earned a Bronze Star for helping stop two suicide bombers in trucks from completing an attack on a U.S. base. He and another paratrooper were serving as guards that day and saved countless lives, despite being temporarily knocked unconscious during the fight, Ashley Stegall said.
Jason Stegall also earned two Purple Heart medals while in Iraq. One time, he was wounded in the side during a firefight while on patrol but still led his squad out of harm’s way back to their base. On another occasion, a bullet came through the back of his helmet and exited the front, grazing his head in the process.
Davis said the goal of the Alabama Fallen Warriors Project is to raise enough money to create bronze busts of every military member from Alabama killed on active duty since 9/11.
Next on the list for the park in Trussville is Army Special Forces Staff Sgt. Michael Hosey, a Trussville man killed in action in Afghanistan in September 2011 at the age of 27.
The May 30 unveiling event was attended by Trussville city officials and the newly created Trussville Veterans Committee, which Davis helped to set up. The committee is tasked with finding ways to recognize veterans and plan Veterans Day events.
“It’s just a heart that I have for veterans,” Davis said.
