ST. PETERS, Mo. — Nearly 3 years after 13 US service members were killed in Afghanistan, a St. Charles Co. man is asking for your help honoring their service.
Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, a St. Charles County native, was just 20 years old when he was killed.
For his father, Mark Schmitz, the last three years have been difficult to digest.
“There’s days that the whole family is all upbeat and positive,” Mark Schmitz said. “There’s days that we just can’t bring ourselves to get up.”
Like many parents Schmitz had plans to buy his son Jared his first drink when he turned 21, but he was robbed of that opportunity in 2021 when a suicide bomber killed his son and 12 service members at the Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.
“All gave some, and some gave all, and that’s what Jared and his comrades did,” U.S. Army veteran Greg Doolin said.
“We decided on his 21st birthday we had to still do something,” Schmitz said.
Schmitz came up with the concept of a bar crawl honoring Jared and 12 other service members killed in the attack.
“Instead of being sad on his birthday we’re going to surround ourselves with people that love him, respect him, and honor him,” Schmitz said.
In the first year, the pub crawl was in 25 states and 204 bars and restaurants.
“People I will never know, and have never met, were all singing happy birthday to Jared,” Schmitz said. “I remember the first time watching those videos I just started crying with happiness that my son was so loved and honored.”
Schmitz is now paying that love and respect forward, by taking the money raised on the pub crawl, and putting it towards the Freedom13 project.
“The mission behind ‘The Freedom 13’ is to build recreational retreat camps in every single state,” Schmitz said. “We would like to put them on 100 acres or more. We’ll build 13 houses on each of these camps.”
“It’s going to be a recreational type environment where Veterans and their families can go and refresh, reset, and reboot themselves at no charge,” Doolin said.
“If they served this country and signed on the dotted line in my book they’re a hero,” Schmitz said. “We’re hoping with all of these veterans being together they can lean on one another.”
With Jared’s birthday quickly approaching Schmitz and Doolin are asking for bar and restaurant owners to join their ranks free of charge.
“This is Missouri we’re the Show Me State,” Doolin said. “Let’s step up, get in formation, and support.”
For more information on how to register your bar or restaurant to participate in The Freedom 13 Pub Crawl, click here.