Hundreds gather to honor fallen Cape Coral soldier

FORT MYERS, Fla.- Nearly 600 people gathered at the Harborside Event Center in downtown Fort Myers on Thursday to honor a Cape Coral soldier 12 years after he was killed in Afghanistan.

“They have a saying that a soldier never dies until he is forgotten, and this community hasn’t forgotten Danny yet,” said Bill Eggers, who’s still grieving the loss of his son Danny Eggers.

“It’s just a flood of emotion, you have to remember a lot of things. They say time can heal all wounds, but not when it comes to losing a family member, it doesn’t,” said Rosie Eggers, Danny Eggers’ sister.

The American Fallen Soldiers Project presented the Eggers family with a unique gift, a portrait of their son which took the artist 75 hours to complete.

“We saw President Bush and I was telling my family, I don’t think I was as anxious that day as I was coming to this,” Bill Eggers said.

Veteran Robert Simpson took action and made the emotional ceremony possible.

“The Eggers can take it home and hang it in their house and have a warm memory of their son,” said Simpson, referring to the portrait of the fallen hero.

“When I was on the news the other day, I told my fellow veterans to get off the couch and come to this. At that time we had 200 people signed up and now we have 600… They got off the couch,” Simpson said.

Local leaders from throughout Southwest Florida also took park in attending the ceremony.