One day after America’s longest running war officially ended, the Colusa County Board of Supervisors honored two soldiers who gave their all to the fight.
The board, on Aug. 31, adopted a resolution honoring Pfc. Justin Casillas and Pfc. Rueben “Boy” Lopez who died in combat while serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. The board also renamed two 5-miles stretches of Old Highway 99 as the Fallen Hero Memorial Highway in their honor and finalized the purchase of two roadway signs, fulfilling the promise they made on May 25 to establish a permanent memorial to the two men.
” It is highly fitting that the Colusa County Board of Supervisors pay honor and respect to individuals who gave their lives in the line of duty,” said Board Vice-chair Merced Corona, who spearheaded the project.
The Afghanistan War was an international conflict that was triggered by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on America, which sent several Colusa County men and women serving in the military into war and inspired many others to join in service to their country.
The first phase of the 20-year-war involved toppling the Taliban, a religious faction that ruled Afghanistan and provided sanctuary to al-Qaeda, the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks who used three hijacked American airliners to crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth airliner, believed to be brought down by passengers who struggled to regain control, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania enroute to it’s likely likely target, the White House in Washington D.C.
The second phase of the war, from 2002 until 2008, marked the U.S. strategy to defeat the Taliban and rebuild core institutions.
It was during the third phase, known as ” Operation Enduring Freedom,” in which the U.S. mission was to counter insurgency and protect the Afghan people from Taliban attacks, that Colusa County suffered its two troop losses.
Casillas, 19, died while trying to carry a wounded soldier to safety after a surprise attack on his Combat Outpost Zerok, in which insurgents used small arms and indirect fire. The attack also killed Pfc. Aaron E. Fairbairn, of Aberdeen, Wash., and injured seven other U.S. soldiers.
Casillas, who lived in Dunnigan but attended Arbuckle schools and graduated from Pierce High School, was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for bravery. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) of the 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska. He was a paratrooper who had been deployed for only four months when he was killed in the Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday renamed approximately five miles of roadway, located 100 yards north of the Yolo-Colusa County Line and Highway 99 intersection to 100 yards south of Perkins Road, in Arbuckle, in Casillas memory. The board selected a brown sign with 3-inch white lettering to mark the stretch of highway in keeping with state regulations.
Lopez, 27, was Colusa Countys second casualty of the war.
Lopez was killed on Aug. 11, 2011, in the Kandahar Province in Southern Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his transportation vehicle.
Lopez, who graduated from Williams High School, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, out of Fort Drum, N.Y. Also killed in the vehicle were Sgt. Edward J. Frank II, Spc. Jameel T. Freeman, Spc. Patrick L. Lay II, and Spc. Jordan M. Morris.
The Board of Supervisors renamed approximately five miles of roadway, located 100 yards north of the Hahn Road and the Highway 99 intersection to the Williams City limits, in Lopez memory. A similar brown sign with white lettering will be erected.
” Pfc. Rueben ˜Boy Lopez and Pfc. Justin Casillas served as a model of patriotism, courage, and integrity for the people,” Corona said.
The last American military plane left Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday afternoon, marking a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces and the official end of the international war that lasted for two decades, eliciting celebrations from the Taliban, who took back control of the country a few weeks ago.
Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of the U.S. Central Command, announced during a press conference on Monday that the complete withdrawal from Afghanistan also marked the ” end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third country nationals, and vulnerable Afghans.
The end of the war came less than two weeks shy of the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on America, and four days after America suffered the loss of 13 U.S. service members when the Islamic State group, known as ISIS-K, detonated an explosive device near the Abbey gate of the airport. The attack also killed dozens of Afghan civilians.
Colusa County Veterans Service Officer Don Parsons said Tuesday that the committee that raises money from the Veterans Picnic held annually on the last Saturday in July would like to pay for half the costs of the signs.
“County veterans support this wholeheartedly,” Parsons said.