LAFAYETTE PARISH — The Lafayette Fire Department held a Full Firefighter's Funeral to honor the life of Lafayette firefighter and U.S. Army Veteran, Darion Blake Whetstone. Engineer Whetstone passed away after his battle with cancer.
"Service was his calling. He was in the Junior ROTC, in the United States Army, and he joined us in the fire service so obviously it was within him," said Alton Trahan, Public Information Officer for Lafayette Fire Department. He would have made 10 years with the fire department on July 14th. Whetstone served as a UH-60 Black Hawk crew chief for the United States Army on several tours in Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria.
Whetstone continued to work even after his diagnosis, according to Trahan. "Once he was diagnosed and the fact that he still worked for as long as he could until he had to seek treatment says a lot about the individual himself. He was willing to endure the pain in order to still serve."
Whetstone's brothers in the department escorted him through the city of Lafayette including a stop at Fire Station #8 where Whetstone served his community.
"The other firefighters he worked with at the station are just trying to understand it all. In the sense of everyone wants to know why so young? In particular when you get a young man like himself that was truly into the calling of service and he loved the fire department," said Trahan.
Trahan said Whetstone was a man of dignity and humility, "In the fire department, we can say he did his job and he did his job well."
Whetstone was laid to rest at Lafayette Memorial Park.
