JUNE 13, 2024 – The Presidio of Monterey honored a former Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center student during a field dedication ceremony near Price Fitness Center on June 8.
The field adjacent to Price Fitness Center is now called Conrad Field, in memory of Army Staff Sgt. Alexander W. Conrad. Conrad was born on May 11, 1992, in Mesa, Arizona and completed the French Basic Language Course at the DLIFLC in 2016.
Lt. Col. Christopher Gin, 229th Military Intelligence Battalion commander, was the presiding officer for the ceremony and gave remarks to those in attendance.
“We must recognize that today is not a day of mourning, but a day of solemn remembrance and a day of pride for the brave man who once stood among us here at DLI,” Gin said. “A Soldier, a sergeant, who led others into harm’s way in an effort to free the world of terrorism and tyranny.”
Conrad died on June 8, 2018, from wounds sustained in a mortar attack while supporting Operation Octave Shield in Southern Somalia. The attack took place in Jubaland, Somalia, southwest of Mogadishu, during a multi-day operation involving Somali and Kenyan units.
Their mission was to move north on the Jubba River and clear Al-Shabab from contested areas, liberate villages from Al-Shabab control, and establish a permanent combat outpost designed to increase the span of the federal government of Somalia. The U.S. troops were providing advice, assistance and aerial surveillance during the mission. Conrad was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Meritorious Service Medal.
“Conrad answered our Nation’s call to end tyranny not by donating money, not by protesting policy and not by asking someone else to go do the hard work,” Gin said. “Conrad’s legacy of bravery and sacrifice is one that these young soldiers, who have yet to smell the stench of war or to feel the sting of death so close in their formation, should seek to emulate and live up to every day they put on this proud uniform.”
Conrad enlisted in the Army in 2010, completed Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. He was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, as a human intelligence collector. After completing the French Basic Course at DLIFLC, he was assigned as a human intelligence non-commissioned officer to 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Liberty, North Carolina.
The dedication was supported by the Presidio of Monterey’s Survivor Outreach Services program and planned by Alpha Company of the 229th Military Intelligence Battalion. Alpha Company is the French and Spanish language company Conrad would have been assigned to during his time at DLI.
The dedication ceremony was intentionally scheduled on the sixth anniversary of Conrad’s passing.
To learn more about the men and women memorialized at the Presidio of Monterey, visit the memorialization page on our website here: https://home.army.mil/monterey/about/memorialization
Story by John Goulette
U.S. Army Garrison Presidio of Monterey