'They are not forgotten': Daughters Remember 'Chattanooga Fallen Five' in Canton

CANTON — A ceremony at the Georgia National Cemetery honored the “Chattanooga Fallen Five,” a group of service members shot and killed during a 2015 terrorist attack on military facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Squire Kimpton Paul “Skip” Wells of Marietta, then 21, was among the victims and has a headstone in the cemetery.

The Daughters of the American Revolution Hightower Trail Chapter organized the ceremony, which ran at the same time as similar ceremonies held across the country with the other victims of the shooting.

They laid a wreath and placed an American flag on Wells’ headstone, said prayers and heard brief eulogies of each of the victims.

“In honoring these Fallen Five, we pay tribute to all the heroic men and women who have served our nation with integrity and devotion,” said Candace Breeden, DAR Hightower Trail Chapter regent. “Remember, when we say their names, they are not forgotten.”

Wells was one of five service members killed after Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Kuwait, fired at two military facilities in Chattanooga on July 16, 2015.

Wells’ family did not attend the ceremony, as the DAR chapter was unable to contact them.

“In the future, we would really like to find (Wells’ mother, Cathy Wells),” Breeden said, “so that she knows that we are honoring her son.”

Marine Sgt. Carson Allen Louis Holmquist, Gunnery Sgt. Thomas J. Sullivan and Staff Sgt. David Allen Wyatt were also killed that day. Navy Logistics Specialist Randall Scott Smith was also shot and died two days later.

Abdulazeez was killed by police about 30 minutes after initially opening fire.

Wells, who grew up in the Bells Ferry area, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2014. Before that, he attended Bells Ferry Elementary, Daniell Middle and Sprayberry High, graduating in 2012. In high school, he was a member of the Sprayberry band and the Navy JROTC. He briefly attended Georgia Southern University before enlisting.

Wells lends his name to a post office in east Cobb as well as a park outside Kennesaw, which was formerly Bells Ferry Park.