SUNDAY, JULY 22, 2007
Region Four Regional Experience News

The 'Coat of Arms'
Julie (Brandyberry) Squires' military-style show jacket had many people talking during Sunday's show at the Region Four Regional Experience. If the jacket looked authentic, that's because each decoration was genuine Marine issue.

"I'm not sure where I got the idea, it just popped into my head one day a few years ago," said Squires. "For the five years I'd known my husband, Brad, he had always been in the Marines, and I was so proud of all that he had sacrificed, being away from his family and home to serve his country. I just wanted to honor that, so I added parts of his uniform to my ultra leather jacket and made it a show jacket.

"The chevrons on the shoulders are Brad's rank of corporal, the medals on the left breast are his actual Marine medals, and the red patch on the right breast is his unit's patch, 3/25," she explained. "Then I put a big Marine Corps logo across the back." Squires noted that even the brass buttons on the jacket are the Eagle, Globe and Anchor (the Marine Corps logo) from Brad's 'dress blues.'

A former Ohio Congress NYATT team member, Squires put her show career on hold to attend nursing school, competing at just a few shows each year. Her jacket has been to several shows, but debuted to perhaps its largest audience at the Region Four show. "I usually get quite a few comments whenever I show in it," she said. "There have been so many politics about the war over the past few years, but I am just so proud of what Brad did and what all our military personnel are doing. If I can make people stop and think about the sacrifices that the armed forces make for us for just one minute, then the jacket has served its purpose."

Squires' husband, Brad, served in the United States Marine Corps in Iraq. He was killed in June 2005, just seven months after the couple married. Brad, 26, was a 1997 graduate of Berea High School and was studying to become a firefighter. After Brad's death, Squires' show jacket took on an even deeper meaning. "People tend to either love the military lifestyle or hate it," Squires said. "I just loved it. It is like an extended family, and I am so proud of all of them. Just today when I showed, an older gentleman walked up to me who was a retired Marine, and he told me how much he appreciated seeing the jacket."

Although winning the Region Four Amateur Horsemanship and placing top five in Novice Amateur Equitation were bittersweet without having her husband to help celebrate, Squires had plenty of family and friends to cheer her on. "Brad had not been around horses when I met him," she said. "But he knew that's what made me happy, so he learned to saddle horses and help at the shows and grew to love it too," she said. "He came to the shows with us whenever he could."

Squires graduated with her nursing degree in May and now works as a registered nurse for Southern Hills Health and Rehabilitation Center in Middleburg Heights. With her studies completed, she looks forward to competing at more AQHA shows this year, including in Amateur and Novice Amateur events at the Congress. She also has a 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure horse that she will show in Non-Pro events at this year's Congress under the guidance of Lori Gingrich.

"I know that Brad is with me all the time," she said. "And I feel really good when I show in that jacket."

Semper Fi, Julie!

reported by Connie Lechleitner