On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the Greenville Triumph gave tribute to veterans and first responders. This match was presented as Heroes Night to honor those who have served our country. Greenville Heritage Federal Credit Union helped make this night possible. Once we at Medals of America found out we thought it was the perfect way to be involved with our great community. Many different ceremonies and activities took place to help make this a special night.
This was a night for Upstates military, first responders as well as their friends and family to honor their service and sacrifice. The Triumph worked with a bunch of local businesses and other corporations to help donate tickets to local first responders and veterans so they could be a part of this celebration of remembrance. There was also an option to donate tickets and money to help local Fire, Police, EMS, and military groups. Medals of America bought 130 tickets to give out to staff and veterans to get to the game as well.
Heroes Night festivities began around 5 pm for they had Touch-A-Truck expo on Bramelett Rd. This featured military, EMT, police, and fire department vehicles. This allowed fans, locals, or anyone near the area to see all the different vehicles our first responders and veterans use. It was a great interactive event before heading into the stadium.
The Touch-a-Truck expo was not the only thing that took place before the game began. There were other tents and venue tables to visit and walk through from different first responders departments and military branches. Medals of America had a table where we passed out goodie bags with cool apparel items and history DVDs of military insignia. MOA passed out a lot of great gifts but also was given the opportunity to tell the story of what makes our company so special to veterans and people who dedicate their lives to the military.
After all the festivities that took place before the game was over people started to wander into the stadium. The Greenville Triumph was scheduled to take on the Chattanooga Red Wolves on this honorable night. The game started out hot with the Triumph outshooting the Red Wolves 9-1. Then the game got a little heated when Red Wolves Sebastian Capozuchhi was shown a red card after a foot to the face of Greenville’s co-captain Aaron Walker.
This making the Red Wolves down a man had the Greenville Triumph pressing even harder on the counter-attack. Soon after Capozuchhi’s red card, the Triumph would capitalize in the 25th minute with a goal from JJ Donnelly which would make it his 2-second straight opening goal.
Soon the whistle at the 45th minute of the game would blow and begin the halftime ceremony. At halftime, the Greenville Triumph displayed a ceremony of remembrance for this special day in our nation’s history. Military members and first responders were such a vital part of our country on the day of September 11th and after. This halftime ceremony was put together to give thanks for the scarifies they gave to serve our beautiful country.
Even though the game was seeking out to be a good one, the halftime ceremony was the main event of the night. Gave an opportunity to honor these men and women on this special night. Different organizations and companies walked across the field to accept an award of service from Veterans and first responders in their company. Medals of America was lucky enough to be a part of this event for we are a company founded by Veterans.
After the ceremony was done it was time to continue gameplay. The score was still Triumph 1 Red Wolves 0 going at the start of the second half. Red Wolves started to make some more attacking plays but the Triumph defense wouldn’t back down. The playing field was evened in the 60th minute after Greenville’s striker Don Smart collected his second yellow card taking him out of the game. That wouldn’t stop the spirit of the Triumph for they would hold the Red Wolves without a goal in a heroic effort on this heroic night.
Since we at Medals of America are a company filled with Veterans Heroes Night was very special to us. We have many employees who served in our military and want to take some time to honor and appreciate all they have done for MOA and our country. Here are some special people who work for us that have served and protected our country.
Let begin with Chris Arnold who served for our country for 20 years in the US Marine Corps. Chris’s title while enlisted was USMC Musician/Instructor/Ops Cheif while his last three years in the Marines Full-time Operations Chief for the Marine Corps Battle Color Detachment comprised of the USMC Drum & Bugle Corps, The USMC Silent Drill Platoon & The Official Color Guard of the Marine Corps (125+ Marines). Master Sergeant Arnold has performed for four different presidents during his time in the USMC and has been located all over the world. Chris Arnold’s path to the military was after he got his Bachelors of Music Performance in Trumpet from Winthrop College, Rock Hill, SC, and was guided by a High School director to pursue music in the US Military.
Motor Segreant Kenny Burgess, MOA employee, served for 24 years and 11 months in the South Carolina Army National Guard. During Burgess’s time in service, he was a part of Stinger Missile, Ordinance, Artillery, Maintenance, Recruiting, Master Driver Training. Kenny’s response to why he joined the military is, “I joined because I wanted to not only make a difference, I wanted to be the difference.”. This mindset is what made Kenny such a great member of service and continues to make him an even better employee after service.
Heather Copeland served 12 years and 8 months in the United States Navy. She has partaken in 2 deployments with the USS Enterprise in 2011 and 2012 one of those being a deployment known as “Captain Phillips” which said by her was the most emotional and physical tool she has ever experienced in her life. Heather is still in the reserves but has missed 3 deployments due to injury, but we are lucky that she is able to work with us for the time being.
Master Sergeant Tom O’Boyle, Medals of America Military Awards Specialist, served in the Air Force for 20 years. O’Boyle was specialized in Aircraft Armament and has been a part of deployments to Iraq, Korea, and an undisclosed location. In his experience in the Military, he worked with many different branches of the US Military and learned about true comradery, and gained relationships that will last a lifetime. Tom joined the Armed Forces to follow the footsteps of his father and we thank him and his dad for all they have done for our country.
SSG Marvin Prophet has 22 years of active service under his belt in the United States Army. During his time in the US Army, Marvin was tasked with 88M/Transport Operator. Marvin completed two deployments to Iraq and his biggest accomplishment in the Army was being selected to become an Army recruiter where he enjoyed being the face Army by selecting who would fill the shoes before them. Marvin says he joined the Military to protect his family which is a noble quality to have which makes us so lucky for him to be a part of Medals of America.
Lastly, we have Rebecca Roland who served five years in the United States Army. During her time in the US Army, she was a 15W-UAV Operator. Rebecca had no employments during her time in service and says she joined because she wanted to serve her country while doing something in the field of aviation. Even without any deployments, Rebecca Roland is a brave and honorable member of the US Army for her service and a great piece of the Medals of America puzzle.
Overall this was a special night for Greenville, but also super special to us at Medals of America. We got to show some love to our fellow staff members who served time in the military that work so hard day in and day out. We thank all of them for their service, what they do for Medals of America, and what they do for other veterans on a daily basis
The Greenville Triumph Heroes Night was an overall success and a great way to show remembrance of such a tragic day in our history. Even though it is a day of sorrow the people of Greenville that night celebrated the great sacrifice and actions our fellow veterans, current service members, and first responders bravely do every day. It truly was a great event for all of Greenville and for the 30 plus employees of Medals of America and their families. We at Medals of America thank the Greenville Triumph for having us be a part of this special night!
