Dolores Reed arrived early Saturday for a ceremony along the Ironton Rail Trail in Hokendauqua with two large planters in hand. Each was filled with pink petunias and a 3-foot-tall American flag.
Her plan was to place them on each side of a bench bearing the name of her son, Spc. Jesse D. Reed, who was killed in action July 14, 2010, in Zabul, Afghanistan.
But Dolores was pleasantly surprised to find that the bench had been beautifully decorated with professional landscaping, just in time for an 11:30 a.m. dedication ceremony establishing it as a memorial to the fallen soldier.
"Sometimes I feel like I'm still in shock," she said, as she stood back and gazed at the bench on the two-year anniversary of her son's death.
Family, friends and members of the American Legion Post 739 in Hokendauqua and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7293 were arriving to pay tribute to him.
The 2002 graduate of Whitehall High School enlisted in the Army in 2008 and was deployed to Afghanistan in December 2009. He was killed seven months later, at age 26, along with three others when a roadside bomb exploded as their convoy passed.
The only soldier in Reed's truck to survive the explosion was his best friend since middle school, Adam Keys, who barely came out alive. Keys lost three limbs — portions of two legs and an arm — and still is undergoing treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Keys, accompanied by his mother, Julie, surprised the group by making the trip to Whitehall Township from Washington to pay tribute to his friend.
"I wanted it to be a surprise. I told only two people," he said.
Keys has had more than 100 surgeries in the last two years and will need more. Currently, he's undergoing physical therapy at Walter Reed.
"This day is about Jesse," he said . Pointing to the bench honoring his friend, he added, "We have a lot of memories together and they are still going on."
About 75 people attended the dedication, which was meant to acknowledge "the ultimate sacrifice" Reed made for his country, Whitehall Mayor Edward Hozza said.
"It's been two years and he's still being memorialized, which is pretty awesome," said Dolores Reed, donning a dog tag bearing Jesse Reed's photo.
The crowd exchanged hugs and smiles as they shared stories about Jesse.
"Jesse was a good kid," said Domenick Galluzzo, owner of Palace Pizza in Whitehall, who came up with the idea of dedicating the bench in Reed's name.
Galluzzo, who gave Jesse Reed his first job, "was like a second father to Jess," said Dolores Reed, who now lives in South Whitehall Township. Palace Pizza was a favorite hangout for Reed and Keys before they enlisted in the Army.
Aware that benches along the trail could be purchased as memorials, Galluzzo approached Mike Kilpatrick, owner of ABE Fence & ABE Supply in Whitehall, for the financial backing. Keys worked for ABE for about three years before enlisting. And when Keys and Reed started a landscaping company, they did business with ABE. Kilpatrick's company purchased the bench, supplied the landscaping and hired Squirrel's Landscaping in Northampton to complete the project, which Galluzzo estimated to have cost about $5,000.
After the ceremony, family members took turns sitting on the bench for photos. Among them was Reed's wife, Heather, of Whitehall, his stepdaughter, Brianna, 7, and the couple's two sons, Dylan Domenick, nearly 3, and Jesse Jr., nearly 2, who was not born when his father was killed.
"It's nice to have something the kids can go to when they're older and see what was done to honor their dad," Heather Reed said.
It's a place Dolores Reed also expects to enjoy.
"I'm going to come here to sit and read and to feel Jesse," said Dolores Reed. "I know he'll be here."
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