BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
The body of Army Staff Sgt. Seth Plant, who was killed during a training exercise as the result of a bear attack in Alaska, will be part of a procession that will pass through his former hometown of Starke this afternoon (May 23).
Plant and his family will land at Jacksonville International Airport at approximately 1:40 p.m. Following a private, family ceremony, Plant will travel from Jacksonville and enter Bradford County on U.S. 301. The procession will turn east onto Call Street, with the final destination being St. Johns Family Funeral Home in St. Augustine.
The community is encouraged to turn out to honor a hometown hero. Plant, the son of Mike and Joy Plant and brother of Amber Hersey and Gini Solano, was born and raised in Starke before his family moved to St. Augustine.
Plant, 30, died as the result of his injuries on May 10. He served in 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment and had been stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage since July 2021.
Please be advised that the procession will include a large presence of law-enforcement and fire-rescue vehicles.
The exact time the procession will travel through Bradford County and Starke is unknown. The Bradford County Sheriff’s Office and the Starke Police Department, via their Facebook pages (https://www.facebook.com/BradfordSheriff?__cft__[0]=AZWbqENLmi2m1OyeP65Ofqpl7pCmWkpJgdlAsCnWzll89Pf9UjINeYMs0KbsFqb79a1RSPh8WAmbRrWZrIGLKpMkQ2bklAZQnh0wvLXYrzRG4b506ZSB_NAmVTMCB3wcn_8V4gqm9ypF9F-HkKHXI2Asmu1xb0LsKiFAisS5BBIt9_sjS5H20QmAWBB5ZYTvuAg&__tn__=-]K-R and https://www.facebook.com/StarkePoliceDepartment?__cft__[0]=AZWbqENLmi2m1OyeP65Ofqpl7pCmWkpJgdlAsCnWzll89Pf9UjINeYMs0KbsFqb79a1RSPh8WAmbRrWZrIGLKpMkQ2bklAZQnh0wvLXYrzRG4b506ZSB_NAmVTMCB3wcn_8V4gqm9ypF9F-HkKHXI2Asmu1xb0LsKiFAisS5BBIt9_sjS5H20QmAWBB5ZYTvuAg&__tn__=-]K-R), will provide updates.
