Fayetteville Today

Although those who have died in war, and whose memories we celebrate on Memorial Day, can never be repaid for making the ultimate sacrifice, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation is trying to repay those who serve.

Frank Siller, chairman and CEO of Tunnel to Towers, says the foundation has been providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star families and the families of fallen first responders with young children and building custom-designed smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders.

"I ask all Americans to take a minute to think of these heroes and their families who have sacrificed so much over the last two decades,” he said in a WRAL report leading up to Memorial Day.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation said the organization has paid off the mortgages for two Fayetteville homes of veterans who have died.

The most recent Fayetteville recipients of the organization’s generosity are:

Staff Sgt. Ronnie Sanders, who died at the age of 26 in Iraq. He was there in 2007 and a bomb detonated near his vehicle. He is survived by his wife and four children.

Lt. Col. Christian Blevins, who lost his battle with cancer in 2019. Toxic chemicals from burn pits are believed to be the cause of the cancer. Six rounds of chemotherapy kept him alive long enough to meet his newborn son, the last of his six children, before he passed.

“This Memorial Day is the first time in 20 years America’s servicemen and women are not in harm’s way on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan,” Siller said. “These conflicts are over, but families are still dealing with the loss of husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. I ask all Americans to take a minute to think of these heroes and their families who have sacrificed so much over the last two decades."

The foundation paid off mortgages for 21 Gold Star families in 16 states this Memorial Day, which was celebrated Monday. Siller said Tunnel to Towers has a goal to pay off 1,000 mortgages for military families by the end of 2022.