Content warning: The article mentions instances of death.
Memorial Day is a federal holiday for U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the armed forces. The story of Jane Horton, widow of Army Spc. Christopher David Horton reveals the real meaning of sacrifice. The Gold Star spouse has a different view on how the holiday should be celebrated.
The widow argues that Memorial Day is not just a holiday to hang out with friends and watch a movie, but should also be mindful of remembering the dead.
It should also honor the sacrifices made by military families.“364 days out of the year are about you,” Horton said during race weekend. “But this one day is for the dead,” she added. Gold Star families are the immediate family members of soldiers who died in the line of duty. As a member of this group, Jane Horton has worked alongside military families, lawmakers, and philanthropic organizations.
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According to reports, her goal has been to improve support for these families and preserve their honor. Throughout the event, Jane approached other families in the crowd. She talked to them and offered support. Her goal was not to put on a show, but to connect with people who had lost a loved one.
In the years after Christopher’s death, Horton traveled to Afghanistan for the first time in 2016. She went back five more times, working alongside senior military leaders. She later served as a liaison for the Afghan Embassy in Washington. Jane Horton said those experiences helped her better understand the country where her husband fought and died.
26-year-old Christopher Horton was a sniper with the Oklahoma Army National Guard’s 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He died on Sept. 9, 2011, in Paktia Province, Afghanistan. Enemy forces had attacked his unit with small arms fire. Christopher and his wife Jane first crossed paths at King’s College in New York City as teenagers. “He was more like a warrior,” Horton said. “He was stoic, but he also had a huge heart.”
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Nobody thought Christopher would marry young, but Jane said he sold his guns to buy her an engagement ring. The couple married in 2009, and the Oklahoma native was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011. Alas, Jane Horton received his flag-draped casket at Dover Air Force Base on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
The day remains one of the darkest in history. That morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and destroyed the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers; a third aircraft crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The attacks killed 2,977 people.
Jane’s time with her husband was limited. Even so, she honors his memory through her work in the community. Apart from his wife Jane, Christopher David Horton has also left behind a brother, Nicholas, and a sister, Tenley.
