On December 14, 2012, a deadly massacre took place at The Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. It was the deadliest mass shooting at a high school or grade school in U.S. history. one local father and former Marine did the unthinkable.
The week after the shooting, nearly 1000 miles away, a former Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps named Jordan Pritchard donned his old Marine Corps uniform and headed to Gower Elementary School in Nashville, TN. For three days, former Sgt. Pritchard stood guard outside the school's front doors. He said it was his responsibility — not just for his two kids who attended Gower, but for all the students, teachers, and their families.
He wasn't armed, and he wasn't getting paid to stand there. But parents felt comforted knowing this hero was making sure their children's school was safe. Throughout the week, unsuspecting parents, staff and students stopped by to thank the Sergeant. Some cried, some reached out to shake his hand. "We have to live this life for other people," he said. "That's the only way that happiness and true peace and hope will come back to our nation is when we all come back together and love each other."
Sgt. Pritchard stood guard at the school all week until the district let out for summer break. But while some called his deed heroic, the US Marine Corps reached out to Sgt. Pritchard and told him to stop wearing his uniform or NCIS would press charges against him. The United States Marine Corps has strict rules about what uniforms can be worn, and where. But the former Sergeant was more concerned with his mission to make the school safe. "Strip me of my honorable discharge … The peace that these parents and teachers have, that's enough honor for me."
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