Fort Rucker street renamed for fallen soldier

“Live every day to the fullest—take advantage of every day you have on earth because you don’t know when it will be your last.”

That’s what Lt. Col. Keith Haskin said he thinks of when he remembers Army Spc. Henry Jarrett “Mitch” Mayfield Jr. “And always train hard. He was probably one of the hardest workers we had in the battalion. What he did every day to train and get ready and get mission focused is a lesson for everyone who is in the Army— and really just life in general.”

“The main thing I remember is that he was one of those soldiers that everyone looked to for answers,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Ramon Cases. “Any situations, any issues that we had, everyone looked to him for answers. He was very much liked by everybody who knew him.”

Haskin and Cases were the battalion commander and command sergeant major, respectively, of the 1st Battalion, 48th Aviation Regiment that Mayfield was assigned to when he died in action in Kenya on Jan. 5, 2020.

They were among those who gathered for a ceremony at Fort Rucker May 26 held to rename Third Avenue on post to Mayfield Avenue.

Carmoneta Horton-Mayfield and Henry Mayfield Sr. traveled from Illinois to unveil the street sign bearing their son’s name. “He made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Cases about the soldier who was 23 when he was killed in action.

“We will never forget Jan. 5, 2020 when Mitch gave the last full measure of devotion to his nation, to the Army and to his family,” said Maj. Gen. David Francis, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker commanding general, about the pre-dawn attack by an Islamic extremist group based in Somalia on Manda Bay Airfield in Kenya that resulted in the death of Mayfield and two military contractors.

Mayfield, who enlisted in Aug. 21, 2017 after spending a year attending Northern Illinois University, was an air traffic services mechanic with the 164th Theater Airfield Operations Group of the Army’s First Battalion, 58th Aviation Regiment. Mayfield attended Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, S.C. After completing Advanced Individual Training, he was awarded the military specialty designation of 91C Utilities Equipment Repairer.

“Henry was probably the most energetic person that we had within the battalion. He really wanted to do more than just his normal mission. He was excited about everything that was coming up,” said Haskin.

“It’s clear that Mitch comes from an amazing and supportive, big family—four brothers, four sisters, loving parents, grandparents and many aunts and uncles,” said Francis. “I’m certain that his patriotism, dedication, ambition and ‘soldier qualities’ are all a direct result of a loving family devoted to raising him, guiding him and shaping him into the wonderful young man that joined the Army and became a soldier.

“Mitch was also a member of an Army family, serving with a unit and a team that valued the opportunity of serving with him—many of whom are present in this formation today,” Francis said. “He made his unit better, the people around him better and made a difference for the Army serving his country and devoting himself to something bigger than himself.

“Naming this street after him is a small token of our enduring gratitude for his faithful service to the U.S. Army and to our nation,” Francis told Mayfield’s family. “We will never forget you.”

“I was immediately impressed with his intellect and his work ethic,” Haskins said. “As we prepared for the deployment to the Horn of Africa, he was identified as a soldier who could not only perform his assigned MOS (military occupational specialty), but one who could also assist in the air traffic control mission of the battalion.

“During the mission readiness exercise in July 2019, Henry began his cross-training to be certified as a landing zone safety officer and performed the same functions as our air traffic controllers,” the commander said, adding that the Air Force, that runs the LZSO program, usually requires a seasoned air traffic controller of at least the E-6 rank to perform those duties. “I remember receiving pushback from many Air Force personnel, saying the mission was too complex for someone that was not a seasoned controller. But I knew better. I knew Henry would not only perform brilliantly, but I also knew he would do whatever is necessary to accomplish the mission and support his fellow soldiers. And that is what he did, day in and day out.”

In October 2019 Mayfield deployed with his unit to Kenya, Africa, supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in the Horn of Africa. “When I met Henry I was immediately impressed by his intellect and his work ethic,” Haskin said. “As we prepared for the deployment to the Horn of Africa, he was identified as a soldier who could not only perform his assigned MOS but as one who could also assist in the Air Traffic Control mission of the battalion. During the mission readiness exercise in July 2019, Henry began his cross training to be certified as a landing zone safety officer and perform the same functions as our air traffic controllers. In order to understand what a tremendous undertaking this was for Henry, the Air Force, who runs the LZSO program, only uses seasoned air traffic controllers, typically in the grade of E-6 or higher. So here he was an E4 and wasn’t even a controller going through the same training as his Air Force counterparts.”

For his actions in Kenya, Mayfield was posthumously awarded the Combat Action Badge, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.