Sgt. DeForest “Dee” L. Talbert

24, US Army

July 27 marks the anniversary of the passing of Sgt. DeForest “Dee” L. Talbert, 24, US Army. 

Sgt. Talbert died July 27th 2004 in Baladruc, Iraq when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Three other members of his WV National Guard unit were injured in the explosion, and two were hospitalized. 

SGT Talbert was one of 450 members of the 150th Regiment called to active-duty. The unit has armories in Alloy, Dunbar, Welch, Williamson, Beckley and Bluefield. The deployment was expected to last up to 18 months. He was assigned to the Dunbar unit of the 1st Battalion,150th Armored Regiment, based in Beckley. Since few tanks are needed in Iraq, the soldiers left West Virginia expecting to be retrained as infantrymen.

Dee, a native of Alexandria, Va., moved to West Virginia to attend West Virginia State Institute in 2000. Although he was a star running back in high school, however, he did not play football at West Virginia State University.

He went to West Virginia State College on a military scholarship and joined the Army National Guard, dividing his time between service and school. Deployed in February 2004, he kept in frequent touch with his family, complaining of Iraq's intense heat and promising his son that he would be home to watch the next Dallas Cowboys game. 

Dee turned his young life around in only a year, going from truant and terror on the streets  of Alexandria VA, to mentoring others as well as becoming a star high school running back. "Touchdown Talbert" even went on to college, but not on free ride for football. His was on a military scholarship to West Virginia State University, a world away from his upbringing by a single mother in a public housing complex in Virginia. "He became one of our greatest success stories," said Monique Davis, who teaches at the alternative school that Talbert entered in his junior year. Even while in Iraq, he thought of others. He made pen pals out of high school students and fellow soldiers because he felt badly that some of his colleagues didn’t receive any mail. He traded instant Internet messages with Frances Hamilett, his girlfriend and mother of his 3-year-old son, Deontae. "He kept saying he loved us and we would see him in August," Frances said.

Dee was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with V Device for Valor. In 2016, West Virginia Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 40 dedicated an overpass bridge on Route 34 at Mile Creek in Putnam County, West Virginia, as the "U.S. Army Sergeant DeForest Lee Talbert Memorial Bridge." 

The North Carolina National Guard, home of D Troop, 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, rededicated the Sanford Readiness Center in Sanford, North Carolina as the Sgt. DeForest Talbert Readiness Center Oct. 20, 2017.

He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, close to his hometown of Alexandria VA.

He was survived by his fiancée Frances Hamilett and his son Deontae as well many other extended family members in his native VA.

Let us honor and remember him, his family, and...

Never Forget…

Say His Name…

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