Summarized by the Alliance for Fort Gordon
Published March 12, 2026
The message was loud, clear, and evident to all those gathered for Company E, 551st Signal Battalion’s physical training March 9: “Once a Patriot, always a Patriot.”
Proving those words are more than merely a battalion’s slogan, hundreds of Soldiers honored a fallen Soldier they never met but to whom they were connected.
Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa, was one of six American Soldiers killed when an unmanned aircraft struck a tactical command center at the Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait on March 1.