Chesterfield County government and schools officials named a soccer field at Harry G. Daniel Park at Iron Bridge to honor a fallen soldier: Army Sgt. Jeffrey A. Reed.
The ceremony last Friday marked the official naming of the soccer field to the Jeffrey A. Reed Soccer Field. It is appropriate that a soccer field was named in his honor. Reed was an avid soccer player who wrote home to organize a big shipment of soccer balls when he found that Iraqi children were playing soccer with deflated balls or resorting to kicking around soda bottles. When they arrived, he got on the field and joined in with anyone playing.
Reed was fatally wounded on March 2, 2009, at the age of 23, when a grenade struck his vehicle in Iraq. After graduating from L.C. Bird High School in August 2004, he joined the Army as a military police officer. He was assigned to the 411th Military Police Company in January 2007, and was deployed to Iraq in January 2008 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was only 15 days away from completing his second 15-month tour when he died.
“We are proud that we can recognize Jeffrey’s sacrifice and his love for soccer by naming this field in his name,” said Steve Elswick, chairman of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors. “It is a fitting memorial both to his love of the game and his commitment to helping children.”
Reed is survived by his wife, Ashley Robbins Reed; parents, Mark and Mary Reed; sister, Cynthia Reed; brother, Sgt. Christopher Reed; grandmother, Ruth Russell Manus; uncles, George Reed; T.G. Manus and wife, Margie; Bobby Manus and wife, Jenny; father-in-law, Michael Robbins and wife, Cathy and children; mother-in-law, Patricia Davis and husband, Jeffery, and children; grandmother-in-law, Louise Robbins; and many other relatives, friends and fellow soldiers. The family established a scholarship fund, the Jeffrey A. Reed Memorial Scholarship Fund, to help graduating seniors from L.C. Bird High School.
