SPRINGFIELD – The Student Nurse Association (SNA) at American International College paid tribute to the 13 American military personnel who were killed by a terrorist bombing during the evacuation from Afghanistan in August.

SNA co-presidents Alyssa Bellefeuille (left), a Holyoke native, and Sarah Newsome (right), of Agawam, both had a personal stake in the conflict. Bellefeuille explained that her boyfriend, also from Holyoke, a specialist in the Army, was less than five miles away from the airport in Afghanistan at the time of the bombing. He is currently awaiting deployment to Iraq.     

Newsome’s boyfriend, United States Marine Corps reservist, Lance Corporal Brandon Franklin, spoke at the memorial.