05/25/2026
MAY 24, 2026
Memorial Day message from Pastor Dirk Anderson.
Why We Remember
My cousin Jared William Kubasak was 25 years old when he was killed in Baghdad, Iraq, on December 12, 2005. He was riding in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle on patrol when an improvised explosive device detonated nearby. He never made it home.
I want to tell you about Jared today — not the soldier, not the statistic, not the flag-draped coffin — but the man. Because sometimes we forget that Memorial Day is a day to remember the men and women who paid the ultimate price.
The Kid From Rocky Mount
Jared grew up in Rocky Mount, Virginia — a small town south of Roanoke. His principal at Franklin County High School remembered him fondly. "When he graduated," his principal said, "he was truly a fine young man."
His neighbors, the Smith family, knew him as the teenage boy next door who watched over their twin daughters like a big brother. He was artistic. He was an avid reader who read just about anything he could get his hands on. He was really into music. Some people were surprised when he joined the Army. But those who knew him understood. He was looking for a way to serve something bigger than himself. And he was looking to see the world.
He loved Germany. That is actually why he enlisted — he wanted to travel, to experience life beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains of Franklin County. And he did. He spent much of his five-year Army career stationed there, and he loved every minute of it.
He Wanted More of a Challenge
Here is the part of Jared's story that moves me.
His first tour in Iraq, Jared worked as a mechanic behind the lines. It was safer work. Important work. But when his first tour ended and it came time to re-enlist, Jared made a decision that tells you everything you need to know about the kind of man he was.
He volunteered for the front line.
He didn't have to. Nobody made him. He could have stayed in the relative safety of the rear, fixing tanks, doing his job, coming home in one piece. But Jared Kubasak looked at the men on the front lines and decided he wanted to stand with them. He wanted, as his friend Desiree Smith said simply, "more of a challenge."
That decision cost him his life. And I believe it also revealed his soul.
The Scripture says: "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." — John 15:13
Jared didn't lay down his life reluctantly. He chose the harder road, the more dangerous post, the front line — because that is where he believed he was needed. That is the definition of courage.
He was fighting a war. He knew it. He took it seriously. And even in the danger, even with the close encounters he had begun to accumulate on this second tour — the gory details he didn't want to go into — he told Desiree that he felt they were making a difference. That he was there to help.
He was home on leave in November 2005 to celebrate his 25th birthday. He spent Thanksgiving with his family in Rocky Mount. And then, on Thanksgiving Day itself, he said goodbye and flew back to Iraq.
Three weeks later, he was gone.
The First From Franklin County Since Vietnam
When the news spread through Rocky Mount, a judge ordered flags flown at half-staff at the courthouse and at every building nearby. Teachers wept openly. His high school teacher Jim Worley, voice breaking, said this:
"There's no greater gift a man can give than his own life to the service of his fellow man."
Jared William Kubasak was the first serviceman from Franklin County to die in combat since Vietnam. He was an only child.
A Prayer for the Fallen
Today I want to pray for the families of every Jared Kubasak. Every son, every daughter, every husband, every wife who went to a war and did not come home. I pray that God would comfort them in a way that only He can — the comfort that passes understanding.
I pray for those who are still serving. That God would send His angels to surround them, to protect them, to bring them home to the people who love them.
And I pray for us — for the ones who are safe at home today, who will fire up a grill or go to the beach or sleep in on this holiday — that we would not forget. That we would teach our children the names of the fallen. That we would honor with our lives the sacrifice made by those who gave theirs.
Rest in peace, Army Specialist Jared William Kubasak.
Rocky Mount, Virginia.
3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.
Fort Carson, Colorado.
Killed in action, Baghdad, Iraq.
December 12, 2005.
Age 25.
We remember. We are grateful. We will not forget.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.
— Pastor Dirk Anderson
Jacksonville Church of God (Seventh Day)
