Make TBO Your Home Page| Subscribe To The Paper| Advertise With Us| Contact Us| Login| Edit Profile| Register
Hernando Today
Email
Print
Post Office Dedication To Honor Fallen Soldier
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: October 16, 2008
BROOKSVILLE - Another Hernando County post office will soon bear the name of a serviceman killed in the war on terror.
Officials on Friday will dedicate the Brooksville post office branch on the State Road 50 bypass in honor of Spc. Cody Grater, a Spring Hill resident who was killed in July 2007 while serving in Iraq. He was 20.
The ceremony is scheduled for 10 to 11 a.m.
Grater's mother Anita Lewis and his uncle Edward Lewis will help unveil a plaque marking the branch at 19101 Cortez Blvd. as the Cody C. Grater Post Office Building.
Among the guest speakers are Sgt. 1st Class Grady Parris. Parris worked as a recruiter in the Army's Brooksville station when Grater enlisted in 2006. He is currently recruiting station commander in Inverness.
U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, who sponsored legislation to have the post office dedicated in Grater's honor, also will speak at Friday's ceremony.
Grater was killed while standing guard duty on the rooftop of an outpost in Baghdad. His position was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Grater grew up in Hernando County and attended Springstead High School. He was assigned to the 407th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. He then completed advanced training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and was re-assigned as a vehicle driver with the 82nd Airborne Division. He was promoted posthumously from private first class. He also earned the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and National Defense Service Medal, among other commendations.
It will be the third post office dedicated in honor of a local serviceman. The branch on Aviation Loop Drive is dedicated to Marine Sgt. Lea Mills of Masaryktown, who was killed in Iraq in April 2006. He was 21.
The Sgt. Michael Wayne Schafer branch on Philatelic Drive in Spring Hill is named after the county's first casualty of the war on terror. Schafer, of Spring Hill, was killed in Afghanistan in July 2005.
If you go
WHAT: Brooksville post office dedication for Army Spc. Cody Grater.
WHEN: 10 to 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 16.
WHERE: 19101 Cortez Blvd. (State Road 50 bypass).
CONTACT: U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite's Brooksville office, 799-8354.
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online ©2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company. Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
