FORT LEWIS, Wash. – Family, friends, Soldiers and the Fort Lewis community will remember Pfc. Brian R. Bates, Jr., with a ceremony to be conducted Thursday, November 5, at 3 p.m. in the North Fort Chapel.
Bates, 20, of Gretna, La., died Oct. 27 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regt., 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. The brigade deployed to Afghanistan in July, 2009, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. This was his first deployment.