A crowd gathered at the Wreath of Honor memorial Wednesday morning. Some were seated quietly in folding chairs. Others stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the back, and dozens more watched from the pine-straw covered hill nearby.
The cicadas made the speakers harder to hear in the thick July air, and the heat was the kind that melted hairspray and dampened collars, but members of the Fallen Five families stayed long after the event ended.
They were there for a solemn milestone, made official by a city and county joint resolution declaring July 16, 2025, as the Fallen Five Day of Remembrance.
The event marked 10 years since gunman Mohammad Abdulazeez of Hixson opened fire at two local military sites, killing five servicemen before being shot to death by Chattanooga police. In the years since the attack, the Fallen Five’s loved ones have tried to heal, but never forget their memories and personalities.
FALLEN FIVE
The five U.S. military service members killed during the July 16, 2015, terrorist attack in Chattanooga.