Captain Brent Morel was killed in the line of duty on Wednesday, April 7, 2004.  Brent was stationed out of Camp Pendleton, California and had been deployed to Iraq in February of this year.  His group came under hostile fire in Al Anbar Province, Iraq in the area of Fallujah when Brent was fatally shot.

Brent was 28 years old and survived by his wife of almost 4 years, Amy who was still living on the base in California.  His parents, Mike and Molly Morel, who were living in McKenzie, TN.  Brent also had a younger sister, Marcy, a brother-in-law, niece and grandparents.  This familys loss was felt throughout the west Tennessee area as Brent had grown up in the Memphis area where he graduated from Bartlett High School in 1994. Brent had graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 1999, where he had transferred to from the University of Memphis so that he could be closer to his dad and enjoy fishing and hunting trips during school breaks.  

When our family heard of the death of Captain Morel we felt compelled to extend our comfort to the family who was now grieving their loved one as we had grieved Tommy just a year ago.  Upon meeting the family we learned that there was a connection we had never realized between us.  Mr. Morel, Brent's dad, had visited Tommy's gravesite on a few occasions leaving fresh cut flowers and had taken Brent there on his last visit home.   Our thoughts and prayers are with the Morel family and we continue to try and keep in touch often.