The Arab Tribune: News
Arab area loses three military heroes in 2011
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The Arab area lost three “heroes” in 2011 – heroes who proudly wore the uniform of the U.S. military.Spec. Steven Blum, a full-time member of the National Guard, died in a wreck near Lacey’s Spring May 28 while on duty.Lt. Col. Mary Ewing went missing March 5 while diving in the English Channel. She was declared deceased in August. her remains were never found.Army Capt. Chip Ramsey was killed Aug. 4 by small arms fire in Afghanistan.together, the deaths of the three area soldiers were judged by the news staff as the Number 4 story of the year in The Arab Tribune.The following are parts of the stories published (alphabetically) about the three.
BlumSpc. Steven Blum was excited about becoming a full-time member of the Alabama National Guard and was eagerly awaiting his fall deployment to Afghanistan.all of that came to a halt in a military convoy wreck that left the 26-year-old Arab High School graduate critically injured. He died at 4:05 a.m. May 28 in the surgical ICU at Huntsville Hospital.Following Blum’s cremation, a memorial service was held at Arab Heritage Memorial Chapel with full military honors. Chaplain Richard Browning Jr. officiated.
On behalf of his wife, Teresa, and the rest of the family, Steven’s father, Michael Blum of Arab, told the Tribune they greatly appreciate the support shown to them, especially by the military, which had grown to mean so much to their son.”I don’t know how we could have gotten through all of this without the help of the National Guard and the Army,” Michael Blum said.A member of co. C, 115th Expeditionary Signal Battalion out of Huntsville, Steven Blum worked on the equipment that made radio satellite communications secure.He was a very humorous individual but a serious soldier, said 1st Sgt. Brad Snipes.”He was the kind of guy you learned to know real well,” Snipes said. “He was always smiling, always happy to do his work.”The old adage is if a soldier is complaining, he is happy. but Blum was just the opposite. He let you know he was happy.”Snipes likened Blum’s smile to an old Edsel with a big, chrome front.He recalled him being late one day to a formation roll call. Blum just stood there smiling.”I tried to look real serious at him,” Snipes said. “I tried to be mad but I couldn’t.”He was a pleasure to be around all the time – in the civilian world or the military. He was a great kid – a great young man.”"He was very excited about going (to Afghanistan),” Snipes said.Ewing”Ready,” the military order to the honor guard rang from outside the Bicentennial Chapel at Redstone Arsenal Saturday morning. “Aim. Fire.”The reports of seven weapons carried inside the chapel where about 150 family members, friends and military personnel had gathered to pay their last respects to Lt. Col. Mary Ewing.”Ready. Aim. Fire.”The repeated order was followed by seven more gunshots.”Ready. Aim. Fire.”Even as a silence and grief fell over the chapel after the third volley, perhaps a bit of weight began to lift from the shoulders of Terry Hawkins of Arab, Ewing’s husband. A retired first sergeant who teaches bomb disposal classes at Redstone Arsenal, he was attired in his dress blues.”The hard part is over now – the not knowing, the waiting and the service,” he said afterward. “Generally the service is pretty much the hardest part. It takes a lot out of you.”I would not wish that on anybody.”Ewing, 45, also of Arab and a 27-year career Army soldier, disappeared March 5 while making a recreational dive for scallops about three miles out in the English Channel. her body and none of her diving gear was ever recovered.An Army casualty board convened May 19 at Fort Knox, Ky., and forwarded a recommendation to the Department of the Army that she be declared deceased.that recommendation was approved in August.RamseyCapt. Waid “Chip” Ramsey was a special person, a hero with a natural gift for touching and impacting the people he met.that gift died with him Aug. 4 in Afghanistan, about five months before he planned to retire from his 20-year career in the Army.Ramsey’s remains arrived in Huntsville from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.Ramsey, 41, was a company commander with the Alabama National Guard’s 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) out of Birmingham. He had been in Afghanistan only about six weeks, serving in the province of Paktrika, when he was killed by small arms fire during a skirmish.He was formerly of Arab but more recently of Huntsville.Perry Ramsey of Fry Gap Road said his son would like to be remembered in the same way he lived his life.”He was a special person,” Perry said. “He touched people in way that they remembered him.”He was kind-hearted. He was a wonderful father. He was an outstanding soldier. That’s the way he was.”The family’s grief-ridden days since Chip died have been softened by what people – young to old, officers to scout leaders – have shared about their son.”They tell us about the little things he did for people and never asked for anything in return,” Perry said. “They were little things he would do that made an impact on somebody that they would never forget.”
