CLEVELAND — Three military families whose loved ones died are being honored during a special halftime show at Wednesday’s Cleveland Cavaliers game as they take on the Washington Wizards at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The halftime show will honor three families associated with Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, a national organization that offers compassionate care for those grieving the death of a military loved one.
- United States Marine Corps Sergeant Dennis E. Kancler, born in Parma, Ohio and a 2003 graduate of Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School, served two deployments in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. On the morning of July 21, 2011, Sergeant Kancler was killed in an early morning barracks fire following his return from a lengthy nighttime patrol in Herat Province, Afghanistan.
- United States Marine Corps Lance Corporal Ryan Robert Smith, from Warren, Ohio and a 2012 graduate of Champion High School, served in the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, which deployed to Afghanistan in 2013. Following his return from Afghanistan, Lance Corporal Smith passed away on September 4th, 2014.
- United States Army Sergeant David Alexander Stephens was born in Tullahoma, Tennessee. His surviving wife and daughter currently reside in Ohio. He was an army medic for the 82nd Airborne Division. On April 12, 2007, Sergeant Stephens was killed by an IED while serving in Afghanistan.
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