PoM dedicates sports field to fallen DLIFLC alumni

PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. (July 3, 2024) — The Presidio of Monterey honored a former Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center student during a field dedication ceremony on July 2.

The field adjacent to the PoM Exchange, formerly known as hilltop field, is now called Griffin Field, in memory of Army Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy W. Griffin. Griffin, 1978-2019, graduated from the Korean Basic Language Course at the DLIFLC in 2005.

Griffin was killed in action on September 16, 2019, by small arms fire during combat operations while supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Wardak Province, Afghanistan.

Lt. Col. Benjamin Griffin, 229th Military Intelligence Battalion commander, was the presiding officer for the ceremony and gave remarks to those in attendance.

“Sgt. 1st Class Griffin showed what it meant to be an American Soldier,” Lt. Col. Griffin said. “He was a marquee professional, proficient and dedicated to his fellow soldier. Greatness like that demonstrated by Griffin requires work, including the work he performed here.”

Griffin served as a special forces communications sergeant with 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.

The dedication ceremony was supported by the Presidio of Monterey’s Survivor Outreach Services program and planned by Golf Company of the 229th Military Intelligence Battalion. Golf Company is the Korean language company that Conrad would have been assigned to during his time at DLI.

“A soldier dies twice, once on the battlefield and once when their name is forgotten,” said Nate Pleasantbey, support coordinator for the Presidio of Monterey’s Survivor Outreach Services office. “The dedication of Griffin field keeps the name and legacy of Sgt. 1st Class Griffin alive. It gives a sense of immortality to the name, which is important for the surviving family members.”

The Griffin Field dedication is the second dedication on the Presidio of Monterey in 2024, the first being the June 8 dedication of Conrad Field.

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