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Clearwater college student on a mission to ensure fallen Marine is never forgotten

Posted at 5:32 PM, Oct 26, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-26 17:32:06-04

A college student from Clearwater is on a mission.

When Steven Arango found out fellow marine, Captain George Whitney, was killing serving our country in Afghanistan, he immediately started thinking of a way he could ensure his name would never be forgotten.

Arango and Captain Whitney both attended Bates College in Maine when Captain Whitney was killed.  Arango, who now attends law school at the University of Alabama, has made it part of his daily routine to immortalize Captain Whitney’s name.

“I think that humility and self sacrifice deserves a memorial and I think this is a great way to do it,” said Arango via Skype.  “Captain Whitney’s memory will never die.”

Arango says he wants everyone who goes to the school now to know who Captain Whitney was.

“We want to put a bust on top of a huge marble slab,” said Arango. “On that slab, we are going to carve every Bates College veterans’ name on the slab.”

Arango has been in touch with the school, but he says in the meantime, he has found someone who can help. Colonel Lee Busby.  Busby is a retired marine who served for more than 30 years. His sculptures dedicated to fallen heroes has been profiled by “Southern Living” magazine.

“Now in his free time, he sits in his garage and makes sculptures of men and women who were killed in action out of the goodness of his heart,” said Arango.

Arango says when he finishes his mission for Captain Whitney, he plans to do some of the same in Tampa Bay, where he says countless other soldiers deserve a permanent memorial.