By Bob Morgan

The high school where Lt. Col. Mark Stratton learned to be both a citizen leader and military leader will join the City of Foley on July 2 in honoring the fallen soldier, who died while serving in Afghanistan on May 26, 2009.

Stratton, who was in Air Force Junior ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) at Foley High School, was commander of a reconstruction team in Panjshir Province when he was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED).

The ceremony honoring Stratton will be held in the FHS gym at 6 p.m., and the public is invited to attend.

Stratton graduated from FHS in 1987 and went to Texas A&M University, where he graduated. He and his wife and three children lived in the Washington, D.C., area. He had deployed to Afghanistan in November 2008 as commander of a reconstruction team, a job Stratton described as being the best he ever had in the military.

Stratton is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

FHS is located at 1 Pride Place.