The featured speaker at the Ltc Fred A. Ettleman Post 7305 Memorial Day Service being held at the Colorado City Cemetery will feature James Sheridan.
Sheridan joined the Navy at the age of 17 in 1978 and was stationed onboard the USS John F. Kennedy. He fully retired from the military in 2018 with 28 years of military service as a 1st Sergeant.
He is currently the post commander of VFW Post 2788 in Penrose, Deputy Chief of Staff for the VFW State Commander, VFW District 2, and Commander State President of the VFW Warriors Riding Group.
While on the USS John F. Kennedy, Sheridan was on several different missions including being front line during the Tehran Hostage Crisis, receiving the hostages onboard. After his enlistment ended, he left the Navy.
In 1990 he reentered the military with the US Army reserves. He trained as a military policeman, cavalry scout, and infantry man. Later he became an engineer combat construction engineer, was a radio operator and then worked in the transportation unit.
In 2001 his Military Police Unit was activated and moved to the State of Illinois after the attack on the trade center. His group did high alert security on all of the major airports in Illinois.
In January 2003 he was transferred to another Army Reserve Unit, and was sent to Fort Riley (Kansas) where he trained to go to Iraq and Afghanistan before main forces arrived.
Sheridan specialized in Military Police Operations and Improvised Explosive Device Detection. IN 2006-07 he was attached to the 1st Division 4th Battalion to go to Iraq to assist in route clearing and interrogation.
In 2010 he was released from active duty but almost immediately went back to active duty with a transportation unit in Louisiana. From 2011 to 2016 he was continuously deployed from team to team as a Senior Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO).
Sheridan traveled throughout the Middle East and returned to the states in May of 2016. He fully retired in 2018 after 28 years of Military Service.
At that point he became a Federal Police Officer at the Pueblo Chemical Depot until October 2022.
Military awards he has won include: two Meritorious Service Medals; Army Commendation Medal (7); Advanced Air Mobility (8); Overseas deployment ribbon (7 oak leaves); Good Conduct (6 stars); Navy Golden Anchor Award; Coast Guard Meritorious Service Award; Navy Meritorious Service Award and many more.
Sheridan was born in Anchorage, Alaska and has been an NRA member since 1978.
The Memorial Day Service begins at 9 a.m.