Soldier Honored: Floyd E. Lake Sr.

Army Sergeant First Class Floyd E. Lake, of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, was assigned to the Virgin Islands Army National Guard. On January 20, 2007 while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was aboard crashed. SFC Lake and 11 other soldiers were killed in the crash. Sergeant First Class Lake was 43 years old.

Floyd Lake first enlisted in the Army in 1988. During his service he was a stock record clerk, a material controller, a handling supervisor and a warehouse foreman. In 2004, he moved from being a logistics coordinator with the Army National Guard to joining the National Guard Bureau in Arlington. In October 2006, he was deployed to Baghdad.

SFC Lake was very proud of his health and fitness. He won many fitness awards and scored the “master fitness” level in military physical training tests multiple times. "He was always out in front, beating most of us in physical fitness tests," said his commanding officer. He was also known as a dedicated father who loved his children and attended their elementary school activities.

SFC Lake is survived by his wife and five children; one of which is a Folds of Honor Scholarship recipient.