That which we hoped wouldn’t happen, has happened.

With the death in Afghanistan of Spc. David A. Holmes Jr., Panola has lost another son to war.

A 1995 graduate of South Panola High School, Holmes had served in the Navy and the Marines before joining the Army National Guard last year in Georgia, where he lived with his wife and four children.

He was the victim of an insurgent attack with an improvised explosive device in Sayed Abad, Afghanistan, according to preliminary reports.

His father and mother, David Sr. and Betty Holmes, got the news Sunday morning. Plans are being made for a memorial service here. However those plans have yet to be finalized.

What’s important is that David’s family know that his sacrifice is appreciated and will not be forgotten.

David’s local family resides on Cotton Plant Road east of Batesville in humble surroundings rich with relatives whom many of us know and work or go to school with.

His wife, LaTonya and children, Daveion, Tejéuan, Shurissa and ShuQuita, who reside in Georgia , need to know that Batesville and Panola County do not take his sacrifice for granted and that their husband and father comes from a community which sincerely cares and mourns the passing of their local warriors.

A local memorial service or visit during this time of bereavement may be one of the few memories this family from Georgia has of their father and husband’s connection to a far-away place in Mississippi.

Unlike previous fallen soldiers from Panola who died in Iraq, and because of his Georgia address, regional media outlets have been slow in carrying the news of David’s death. That makes him no less a casualty of war.

Those of us here in his community should keep the Holmeses in our thoughts and prayers during the upcoming Independence Day weekend and let his family know that we appreciate his service and his ultimate sacrifice.