Remembering Green Beret Aaron Holleyman from Montana

This August it will be 20 years since Aaron Holleyman, a green beret from Glasgow, Montana, gave his life for our country in Iraq.

We spoke with his high school friend, Active Duty US Army Colonel Parker Hahn, in honor of Memorial Day. I also re-shared audio of my conversation with then Lt. Colonel David Diamond, who was Holleyman's Special Forces ODA team leader in Iraq, from 10 years ago.

I asked Parker what he wanted to tell folks across Montana about his friend Aaron Holleyman.

Parker Hahn: "Words can't can't describe what Aaron meant to me and my journey through the military and the place he has in my family's heart...we're coming on 20 years that Aaron was killed, and it's still hard to kind of swallow that pill. But Aaron is really what drove me to do what I'm doing 22 years later."

Back in 2003 or 2004, Parker was working as a nurse at Landstuhl in Germany. He remembers getting a phone call from Holleyman that a couple of his wounded teammates were coming through. Holleyman asked him to go check on them.

Parker Hahn: "I went up there and I met Mark and Joe, who looked like they had been through a meat grinder, unfortunately. And when I mentioned Staff Sergeant Hollywood- that's what they called Aaron, Staff Sergeant Holleyman- Hollywood- they both just kind of started crying that somebody knew Aaron and was there to take care of them. And it was at that moment that I knew I needed to be in the fight and I knew I was wearing the uniform for the right reason."

Full audio of our Memorial Day show: