FORT CAMPBELL, KY (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Just off of North Destiny Road on Fort Campbell, tucked behind the top secret home of 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, is the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail, which underwent a renovation this week thanks to some help from Lowe’s on Madison Street in Clarksville.

The trail stands to serve as a memorial for all fallen members of the 160th SOAR, which is headquartered at Fort Campbell.

Entrance to the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
Plaques on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
Volunteers planting a tree along the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
One of 20 benches donated by Lowe’s on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
MH-6 Little Bird flies over the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
Plaques along the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
An added memorial on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
Dog tags installed on a bridge to commemorate all fallen Night Stalkers on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
The sign commemorating a bridge for SSG Benjamin “Levi” Pigman on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
A bridge built to honor SSG Benjamin “Levi” Pigman on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
A sign with the tail number of a flight that crashed during a training mission in 2009 on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
Flowers planted along the entry way of the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
Josie Trimnal placing her father’s plaque on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
A bench installed by Josie Trimnal at her father’s plaque on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
Josie Trimnal placing her father’s plaque on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
Plaques on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)
Plaques on the Night Stalker Remembrance Trail on April 27, 2021. (Lee Erwin, Clarksville Now)

Continued project

The trail was started in 2009, and at its inception was just an area cleared by machete that soldiers would go to for a moment of reflection. Twelve years later, it has grown into an over mile long, gravel trail complete with bridges, benches and designated memorials.

It’s built out chronologically from start to finish with individual memorials for Night Stalkers killed in action or in training.

This project is the second renovation of the trail in the last six months, and the first was held back in November. Both were a combined effort by the Night Stalker Association, the Families of Fallen Night Stalkers Organization, and the Lowe’s Helping Heroes Project.

Lowe’s on Madison Street, through the Helping Heroes Project, donated all of the planting and construction supplies along with $20,000 that went towards funding for gravel and new granite name plaques to replace the worn and weathered metal plaques that just listed the names of the fallen.

The Elk’s Lodge in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, also donated $1,000 towards the plaques.

The granite plaques included the name of each soldier, an etched photo and a biography. The plaques were then adhered to posts by volunteers and the families.

Volunteers wrapped up on Wednesday with closing comments from the regiment commander and Congressman Mark Green, a 160th SOAR veteran.

The trail has been used a place to commemorate more than just those in the 160th SOAR who were killed in action. A bridge over a runoff creek was erected by the D Company, 2nd Battalion soldiers of the 160th for Staff Sgt. Benjamin “Levi” Pigman, who collapsed and died at 25 after completing a half marathon in Nashville in 2009.

Family effort

Volunteers, Gold Star family members and active duty soldiers alike pitched in to clear brush and plant flowers, bushes and trees.

HHC Regiment Company 1st Sgt. Rob Huey was the lead planner on both of the most recent renovation. The granite plaques were his idea.

“I did some Google searching and found a local guy who would do the etching for us, and with the money from Lowe’s and the Elk Lodge donation, we were able to cover all the costs,” Huey said.

On Monday, about 75 volunteers came to help. On Tuesday, twice that showed up, and a similar turnout was expected for Wednesday.

Surviving family members and others donated trees and flowers to be planted along the trail.

“We had families out here this morning. We have another (family readiness group) coming out tomorrow, so spouses and kids were out here helping to pull weeds and dig in the dirt,” said Marissa Bazzano, protocol officer and Gold Star family liaison for the 160th.

Josie Trimnal, the daughter of Chief Warrant Officer 3 William Tuttle who was killed in action Oct. 4, 1983, and president of the Families of Fallen Night Stalkers organization, flew out from Arizona to assist in the renovation.

“When I come here, the second I step on the trail, I’m at total peace. I absolutely love being able to come here and just sit on the bench here with my dad and have a drink, a chat and I just think the things we’ve been able to do this week to brighten it up by adding some color will make it so pretty when it’s all done,” Trimnal said.

Jeff Slinker, the outgoing public affairs officer for the 160th, has been with the regiment since 2014. He hopes that there will continue to be events aimed at maintaining and refurbishing the trail at least once or twice a year moving forward.

“Maybe this can become a thing we continue doing for our fallen guys. They deserve it,” Slinker said.