THURSDAY: MADISON ARMY CAPT. KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN WILL BE 64 ^th CONNECTICUT SERVICE MEMBER MEMORIALIZED

ON STATE'S WALL OF HONOR

(HARTFORD, CT) - The portrait of a Madison soldier killed in Afghanistan earlier this year will be added to the Wall of Honor tribute in the State Capitol complex Thursday at the annual memorial ceremony for Connecticut troops lost since September 11, 2001.

The public is invited to attend the ceremony, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. in the Atrium of the Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Ave., Hartford.

Family members of the new honoree, Army Capt. Andrew Pedersen-Keel, will be in attendance along with relatives of many of the other 63 Connecticut service members previously lost in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pedersen-Keel, a 28-year-old Special Forces commander, was killed in March when an Afghan policeman opened fire inside a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan.

In addition to the hanging of his portrait, the names of all service members on the Wall will be read and family members will have the opportunity to give remarks.

Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman created the Wall of Honor in 2007 and hosts the annual addendum ceremony with Hartford radio broadcaster Brad Davis.

The ceremony also will include the posting of colors by the Connecticut National Guard, the reading of names by the Madison American Legion Post 79 Military Funeral Honors Squad, and the singing of the Star Spangled Banner by Aja Wilson of the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford.