Gold Star Family Pins Rank on National Guard Colonel and Friend [Image 30 of 53]

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES

06.21.2024

Photo by Lt. Col. Bradford Leighton 

Joint Force Headquarters - Illinois National Guard Public Affairs

Col. Beth Roxworthy speaks during her promotion ceremony. Roxworthy, the Commander of the Illinois Army National Guard's Chicago-based 34th Division Sustainment Brigade, spoke of what she learned during each stage of her military career from the value of friendship as a lower enlisted Soldier to the meaning of sacrifice from getting to know the Gold Star family of Sgt. Simone Robinson. Roxworthy was promoted to colonel on Friday, June 21, in Chicago. Roxworthy lives in Rochester, Illinois, and is a native of Crystal Lake, Illinois. Her parents, Donald and Jo Ellen Roxworthy of Crystal Lake, pinned the colonel rank on their daughter's left side. Gold Star mother, Regina Byther, and daughter, Nyzia Wilson, pinned the rank on Roxworthy's right side. Nyzia's mother, Sgt. Simone Robinson of Dixmoor, Illinois, died on March 1, 2009, at Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, from wounds suffered when her security post was attacked with an explosive device on Jan. 17, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Sgt. Robinson served under Roxworthy's company command in the 634th Brigade Support Battalion. After her death, Roxworthy and Sgt. Robinson's family became friends. Maj. Gen. Rodney Boyd, the 41st Adjutant General for Illinois and Commander of the Illinois National Guard, promoted Roxworthy and administered her Oath of Office. The promotion was held in the conference rooms of Jenner & Block Law Firm on the 45th Floor of 353 North Clark Street in Chicago, overlooking Lake Michigan.

• Date Taken: 06.21.2024
• Date Posted: 06.23.2024 15:14
• Photo ID: 8491953
• VIRIN: 240621-A-OH563-6984
• Resolution: 673x614
• Size: 104.17 KB
• Location: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, US
• Hometown: CRYSTAL LAKE, ILLINOIS, US
• Hometown: DIXMOOR, ILLINOIS, US
• Hometown: ROCHESTER, ILLINOIS, US