Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent may be gone, but she won’t be forgotten.
On Wednesday, the Navy detachment at the Presidio of Monterey dedicated a stage and several buildings at the service’s Information Warfare Training Command in honor of the 35-year-old cryptologic technician was killed while deployed to Syria in January.
The clutch of buildings will now be known as Kent Navy Yard.
(Presidio of Monterey/Facebook)
“We will never forget that professionals like Senior Chief Kent are why we are who we are,” Cmdr. Michael Saleh said during the Wednesday dedication, per local news stations KSBW-8. “We don’t need to brag, we don’t need to boast, we don’t need to gloat. We’re just a diverse group of patriots who across this nation swore an oath to defend and protect the ideals of honor, courage and commitment.”
Kent was one of four Americans killed in a Jan. 16 suicide bombing in the city of Manbij, Syria. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan Farmer, Defense Intelligence Agency officer Scott Wirtz, and Syrian-born interpreter Ghadir Taher were also killed in the attack.
U.S. service members gather at the Presidio of Monterey on Wednesday, Aug 21., for the dedication of the Kent Navy Yard(Presidio of Monterey/Facebook)
In June, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged Navy officials to name a vessel after Kent, a native of Pine Plains, New York, in honor of Kent’s “groundbreaking achievements.”
“[Kent] was living proof that women can not only keep up with, but lead this nation’s most highly capable service members,” Schumer said.