A decision by Manteca to honor a fallen Air Force combat air controller from Alabama killed in a fierce battle in Afghanistan while supporting a Marine aviation unit is prompting one of the Marines’ top generals to attend this year’s Memorial Day Weekend Event at Woodward Park.

The Pentagon has given Lt. Gen. John Kelly authorization to attend the Sunday, May 27, ceremonies that are part of the Not Forgotten: Memorial Day Weekend event.

“It is a major, major honor for our community to have the lieutenant general visit here,” noted Pastor Mike Dillman of the Place of Refuge that is coordinating preparations for the 2012 event.

Dillman said the community is equally honored to have the family of Mark A. Forester - the airman who died serving America in the War on Terror and whose image will be on the 11th panel of the Traveling Tribute - to attend as well.

The Traveling Tribute lists all Americans who have given their lives so far in the Global War on Terror.

Forester was selected based on the strength of his unconditional love for his country.

The depth of that love resonated after his death in combat in Afghanistan when comrades discovered that he had taken an American flag secured under his uniform into battle.

Forester’s dedication to country and his decision to forgo officer training so he could secure a more dangerous assignment on the frontlines as an Air Force combat air traffic controller prompted Marine Colonel Lott returning stateside after serving in the same battle theater to go out of his way to visit Forester’s family in Alabama. Col. Lott will also be in Manteca on May 27.

The story so touched Dillman and the rest of the Memorial Weekend committee that they chose to put Forester’s likeness on the 11th panel along with those who have died serving America in The Global War on Terror since May 2011. That panel will be dedicated during the Memorial Weekend ceremony that typically draws over 10,000 people to Manteca each year.

The Manteca event is the largest Memorial Day ceremony of its kind on the West Coast.

A special part of this year’s ceremonies is the dedication of honor roll panels listing the names of nearly 1,000 Manteca residents who served in World War II.

In addition to the dedications, 2012 will mark the first year for a soldier’s theater. It will consist of a large tent seating up to 200 that will feature hourly multi-media presentations of different soldiers’ stories.

The event will include activities ranging from a 5K run, military flyover, a memorial concert featuring the band of the Golden West stationed at Travis Air Force base, and memorial ceremonies to a car show with 500-plus cars, aerial fireworks and more.

The Memorial Weekend event is in addition to the Manteca Chamber of Commerce’s Memorial Day parade and the 2,400 flags volunteers will place along Manteca’s main streets that day.

After receiving the family’s permission to honor Forester, Dillman and the committee discovered that Forester was serving as a missionary in nearby Oakland when the terrorist attacks occurred on Sept. 11, 2001.

The 29-year-old Haleyville, Alabama, native received a degree in finance from the University of Alabama in 2006 and enlisted in the Air Force in June 2007.

Despite everyone telling him to go in as an officer, he wanted to enlist because he wanted to start from the bottom up. Forester knew his chances of getting better deployment opportunities would be increased as an enlisted airman. He wanted the toughest job the military could offer, and Air Force Combat Controller was what he was looking for.

He was deployed to one of the most coveted areas by Combat Controllers in May 2010, FOB Cobra. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor for his heroic actions while engaged in ground combat against the enemy on Aug. 6, 2010.

Forester was fatally wounded during combat on Sept. 29, 2010. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

Lt. Gen. Kelly served as the senior military assistant to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and just recently assumed leadership of the Southern Command.

Kelly lost his son in battle in November. Second Lt. Robert Kelly was killed in a roadside bomb blast on foot patrol in the Hemland Province in Afghanistan.

The lieutenant general served as the commanding general of the Multi-National Force-West in Iraq from February 2008 to February 2009.