Gwinnett Daily Post

LAWRENCEVILLE -- This Veterans Day, two soldiers who died in Afghanistan will be honored for their sacrifice.

The names of John David Blair and Alex French IV, members of the Georgia Army National Guard's Alpha Company, based in Lawrenceville, will be forever etched into the Gwinnett Fallen Heroes Memorial.

The company was deployed for its second tour in the global war on terrorism earlier this year.

A sheriff's deputy in Gordon County, where he lived, 1st Sgt. Blair died June 20, after an armored vehicle where he was acting as gunner was attacked by a rocket-propelled grenade in Mado Zay. He was credited with saving a fellow soldier's life in the attack.

French, a staff sergeant who worked as a sheriff's deputy in Bibb County, was killed Sept. 30, when his unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device in Kwhost, Afghanistan.

The public is invited to attend today's tribute, which will be held at 11 a.m. at the memorial, located in the back of the parking lot at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center.

The ceremony will be televised on TVgwinnett at 7:30 p.m. and will be available on demand at www.tvgwinnett.com.