Sergeant First Class Aaron Henderson wasnât scheduled to go to Afghanistan, but the Hodgdon native wanted to be there with a younger group of soldiers. Â Henderson died from IED injuries on October 2nd, 2012. He was 33-years-old. Â While Hendersonâs life ended too soon, his story of selflessness will be shared forever, partly because of The Summit Project. Â âWell Iâll be honest, I just didnât think much about it. I thought,you know a rock. Okay. It didnât mean anything to me. I was too deep into the grieving process,â said Aaron Hendersonâs mother Chris. Â Almost a year after her sonâs death, Chris Henderson was asked to choose a memorial stone for The Summit Project, a program that memorializes Maine soldiers killed in the line of duty since September 11th. Â âI think some people thought it was a wonderful idea from the get go, but it took me awhile to process it,â she said. Â Â She picked a rock from property Aaron had purchased next to herâs in Hodgdon. Â âIt just brought the whole farm back together again and he had plans to, when he retired, to probably come back there and build a little house on that land,â said Henderson. Â While the stone didnât mean much to her at the time, she had no idea where it would travel one year later.
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