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An Armed Forces Reserve Center in Ayer, Mass., will be named in honor of Major David S. Connolly, a 1994 Boston College graduate who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. The dedication of the facility will take place on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. at the center at 111 Barnum Road in Ayer.
Major Connolly, a graduate of the University’s Army ROTC program, was the first Boston College alumnus to lose his life in hostile action since the Vietnam War.
After graduation from BC, the Newton native served on active duty with the Army’s elite Ranger special operations units before returning to civilian life to enroll at Suffolk Law School. He was an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County and a member of the Army Reserve when he was killed in a helicopter crash 80 miles from Kabul, Afghanistan on April 6, 2005. Major Connolly was 37 at the time of his death.
Major Connolly’s mother, sister and three brothers are Boston College graduates.
In addition to having his name inscribed on the Veterans’ Memorial Wall near the main entrance to the University, Major Connolly is remembered on an inscribed granite bench that is located on the south lawn of Bapst Library.
The bench memorial, which was donated to the University by his family, is inscribed with the young soldier’s favorite saying: “Can you do more, can you do better, can you make a difference?”