Correction: Armbrust veterans and members of Amvets Post 94 have served as honor guards at more than 100 funerals. A photo caption incorrectly attributed that service to an individual veteran who attended a weekend concert at Soldiers & Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial, in Pittsburgh. (03/23/04 at 12:30 a.m.)
Freddie Jackson said she never planned to use the word "hero" when talking about her son.
More than 500 veterans and families of veterans convinced her otherwise Sunday, just before a concert at Soldiers & Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial in Oakland.
Standing on the stage, dwarfed by the looming text of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, local and state officials inducted her son, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Stevon A. Booker, into the memorial's Hall of Valor.
On April 5, Booker gave what Lincoln called "the last full measure of devotion" during a raid into Baghdad. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.
"He gave his life so others in his unit may live," said state Rep. Frank Pistella, D-Bloomfield.
Since the Civil War, about 365 veterans have been inducted into the memorial's Hall of Valor, said Joseph Dugan, president of Soldiers & Sailors.
Speakers at yesterday's "Salute to our Troops" event, which was orchestrated as a general tribute to all military personnel serving overseas, also praised the relatives of those called to fight around the globe.
"I can't imagine what you're going through," said Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato. "The sacrifices you're making every day are appreciated."
The event, which included a jazz concert by Night Flight, the Air Force's jazz band, came one day after about 500 people gathered across the street from Soldiers & Sailors to protest the war.
In addition to Booker, a dozen other men from Southwestern Pennsylvania who died in Iraq were honored during a slide presentation.
Onorato, calling the war's supporters a "quiet majority," said it's important for troops to know how many people are behind them.
Michael Flaherty, 18, is at the end of a long line of Navy veterans in his family. The University of Pittsburgh freshman said he's thinking about continuing the family tradition and joining up when he graduates.
"I'm not for the war," said Flaherty, of South Park, who has a cousin currently serving in the Navy. "But I'm still at rallies for the troops whenever I see one."
John Rendulich, 77, said he has been to a lot of tributes and ceremonies honoring troops since he ended his two-year stint loading 40-mm cannons on a ship in the Pacific during World War II.
He takes a holistic, cyclical view of the latest conflict, not leaning one way or another on the war's merits.
"These keep coming around every few years," said Rendulich, of Mt. Lebanon. "You live long enough, you start to see that."
Jackson, 58, of Apollo, Armstrong County, said she and her family didn't support the Iraq war, but "we supported my son. I never used the word 'hero' in the same sentence as my son's name. Today, he is a hero."
