Columbus, Ohio –
Taken from reporting by DLA Land and Maritime Public Affairs
Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime
paid a final tribute to one if its own Jan. 21, renaming a newly renovated
building to honor a fallen hero.
In front of its namesake’s family members, friends and
co-workers, the Stephen F. Byus Community Center was dedicated in a ceremony on
the installation.
Byus served two tours in Southwest Asia as a mobilized Navy
Reserve sailor serving with DLA Disposition Services before his final mission
in 2014.
Byus was a civilian supervisory supply specialist with DLA
Land and Maritime in July 2014 when he volunteered to deploy to help the Afghan
military improve its maintenance and supply systems.
On Sept. 16, 2014, his two-vehicle convoy, carrying
personnel to downtown Kabul to brief the Afghan minister of defense for
logistics, was attacked. He became the
first DLA employee killed in the decade-long war. He was 39.
"Stephen Byus will certainly be an enduring figure in
the noble history of DLA Land and Maritime,” said Navy Rear Adm. John King,
commander of DLA Land and Maritime. “After today's dedication of the Community
Center in his name, he will forever be a permanent part of this entire
installation”
His earlier military deployments were to Iraq, where he
served as a petty officer 2nd class with DLA Disposition Services in 2004 and
again to Iraq during 2010, serving as a petty officer 1st class in a team of
reservists based out of Columbus. At that time he was the team’s leading petty
officer for administration and supervised four sailors.
Byus began working for DLA Land and Maritime as a civilian
in July 2008, through the DSCC Corporate Intern Program. It was said that he
helped revitalize the resolution specialist employee-development team and
improved the division’s audit readiness.
The 3,000-square-foot Byus Center opened in fall 2014,
following extensive renovation of a structure dating to World War I. The
state-of-the-art facility can accommodate group conferences, social functions
and large meetings.
"The naming of this building is not to commemorate his
death but, rather, to remind us of what Stephen Byus accomplished while he was
alive,” King said. “My hope is for this community center to be a place for
fun—a place where bonds are cemented but also a place where those coming here will
recognize our desire to acknowledge those who have sacrificed so much for our
freedom and that they will be encouraged to place the same importance on this
building as we do here today."