Mike Stokely Scholarship Award Winner
Mike Stokely Scholarship Award winner for Northgate High School 2010 graduating senior: Allison Smith
Pictured in photo: Front Row Right: Allison Smith, Front Row Left and back row presenting on behalf of the Foundation: Abbey Stokely, graduating senior at Northgate, and dad Robert Stokely
Allison was awarded a $1000 scholarship for her book and other college expenses at Georgia College in Milledgeville GA.
Mike Stokely Memorial Foundation
Mike was E 108 Cavalry 48th Brigade Georgia Army National Guard. He was deployed to Iraq out of Fort Stewart GA attached to the 3rd Infantry Division U.S. Army. He had joined the Georgia Army National Guard March 28, 2000 while a junior at Loganville High.
He went to "boot camp" - basic training at Fort Benning during the summer of 2000 and returned to Loganville for his senior year that August, graduating May, 2001. He then went to Fort Gordon for his Advanced Individual Training late June 2001 through November 2001. In Janaury 2002 he started college at Georgia Military in Milledgeville. He took what was to be a year out from college in 2003 to recruit full-time with the Georgia Army National Guard. He was planning on going back in 2004 but thought his unit was being called up so held out and worked full-time, and moved to Sharpsburg to live with us. In the fall of 2004 as he was making plans to re-enroll at Georgia Military Fairburn campus, he was called up.
A video tribute by his sister, Abbey, which she did for the
October 6, 2006 Mike Stokely Memorial Highway Dedication -
GA 54 from the Fayette County Line to GA 16 in Sharpsburg.
Click here for the video link on YouTube
Mike's unit deployed on May 15 2005 after five months of train-up, landing in Kuwait on the 16th and entering Iraq a few weeks later. He served at Yusufiyah Iraq in the Triangle of Death about 15 miles southwest of Baghdad. Mike escaped several close calls but in the early morning hours of August 16, 2005 his three HumVee patrol stopped to check a suspicious location.
While out of their vehicles on dismounted patrol a very powerful roadside bomb exploded, killing Mike and seriously wounding two of his fellow soldiers.
Mike Stokely was age 23 when he died. Mike was born Michael James Stokely, April 19, 1982.