An annual ceremony commemorates a tragedy at Howrey Park
By Julia Key
On Monday, the fifth annual memorial ceremony was held at Howrey Field in Annandale to commemorate the 58th anniversary of a tragic accident that claimed the lives of six soldiers.
The soldiers, from the 77th Port Construction Engineer Company at Fort Belvoir, were developing what is now Howrey Field Park as a community service project. When they were attempting to set a flagpole onto its base, the pole fell on a wet 7,200-volt power line, electrocuting and killing all six of them.
The soldiers lost that day were PVT Anthony B. Evans, PVT Paul D. Briggs, PVT Charles Oliver, PFC Marvin D. Harrison, SPC Kenneth G. Steiner, and PVT Charles M. Whaley.
The baseball fields were subsequently named for the soldiers.
The memorial service was organized by the Friends of Soldiers Memorial at Howrey Park, which is led by Richard A. Elliot, the president; Keith Elliot, the vice president; Darryl Kehrer, the vice president emeritus; and Tony Fiorino, the treasurer.
Braddock Supervisor Rachna Sizemore Heizer read a proclamation declaring June 1 a day to honor the soldiers.
“Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, on behalf of all residents of Fairfax County, does hereby proclaim June 1, 2026, as Soldiers of Howrey Field Park Day in Fairfax County, and we urge all residents to remember and honor these soldiers and their sacrifice,” Sizemore Heizer said.
Richard Elliot spoke fondly of his personal connection to the field and highlighted the impact of the soldiers’ sacrifice on behalf of the community. He recalled the history of the field, the day of the accident, and the ongoing efforts to honor the soldiers and their families.
“I played football and baseball here, and unfortunately, I saw the pain and the hurt in the community when this event happened,” Elliot said. “To stand here in front of everybody today means a lot to me.”
When the friends group was founded in 2017, the number one goal was to honor the soldiers and their families,” he said. Number two was “public recognition, and number three was to promote the field.”
Related story: Annandale resident seeks more recognition for memorial to tragic accident
“If everyone here could tell one person about this event, maybe next year, on June 1, you can have a sea of people here, and that would be the ideal situation,” Elliot said.
He laid a wreath in honor of the soldiers, an annual tradition, and a wreath was placed over the spot where the soldiers had stood. Fiorino and Don Pederson, a former president of the Annandale North Springfield Little League, read the soldiers’ names and rang a bell in their honor.
The memorial closed with a benediction and a trumpet rendition. After the ceremony, a Little League game was held at the park in honor of the soldiers.
Julia Key, Annandale Today’s summer intern, is a resident of Burke and a journalism student at Penn State University.