Martin, Vernon William

Staff Sergeant Vernon William Martin was a 25-year-old soldier from Savannah, Georgia. He served with Company D, 704th Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Carson, Colorado.

Martin died on October 3, 2009, at Combat Outpost (COP) Keating in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. According to U.S. military reports, the remote outpost was overrun by a force of several hundred insurgents in a coordinated, day-long assault. The attack involved small arms, rocket-propelled grenades, and mortars. Eight U.S. soldiers were killed and more than twenty wounded in the battle before air support and a relief force repelled the attackers.

The battle occurred during Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan that began in October 2001. COP Keating was a small, isolated outpost in a mountainous valley near the Pakistan border, a region with significant insurgent activity. Its vulnerability had been noted in prior military assessments.

In the aftermath, the U.S. military evacuated and subsequently dismantled COP Keating. The battle was the subject of official investigations and extensive media coverage, later detailed in books and a documentary. Martin was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor for his actions during the defense of the outpost.

Martin is remembered on a memorial at Fort Carson and by his family and fellow soldiers. The battle for COP Keating is studied as a stark example of combat in Afghanistan's remote outposts.

Staff Sergeant Vernon William Martin was killed during Operation Enduring Freedom (2001–2014). The conflict concluded in December 2014. See the full roster of those killed in this conflict.

Among those documented in the same conflict: Andrews, Evander Earl, Edmunds, Jonn Joseph, Stonesifer, Kristofor Tif, Davis, Bryant Leroy.

← Return to the full memorial | Add a memorial record