Flynn Field
Where Legacy Moves Forward
Some names are placed on buildings and fields to remember the past.
Flynn Field will carry its name because of what continues.
Staff Sergeant Liam A. Flynn was a United States Marine Raider, husband, father, and a man deeply loved by his family and those who served beside him. He served our nation through multiple combat deployments and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor and the Purple Heart.
On March 10, 2015, Liam was killed during a military training mission when the helicopter carrying his team crashed near Eglin, Florida.
He left behind his wife, Destiny, and their young daughter.
But Liam’s story did not end that day.
The Family
A Family That Understands Service
Service was part of Destiny’s life long before she experienced the loss of Liam.
An Army veteran herself and the daughter of an Air Force veteran, Destiny understood military life, sacrifice and the bonds formed through service.
Losing Liam brought a different journey.
Their daughter would grow up without her father physically beside her. There would be birthdays, school, friendships, soccer games, accomplishments and countless ordinary moments that become extraordinary when someone you love is missing from them.
Destiny made sure Liam would remain part of those moments.
Through her writing with The Virago Spirit, her advocacy and mentorship of surviving families, Destiny has used her own journey to encourage others navigating life after loss.
Today, she is also part of the Children of Fallen Heroes family, serving as our Wellness & Mentorship Director.
For us, that relationship is personal.
So is what happened next.
The Experience
From the Soccer Field to Flight
Destiny’s daughter loves soccer.
It’s her sport. Her passion. A place where she can compete, grow and simply be a kid pursuing something she loves.
Through Children of Fallen Heroes, she also had an opportunity to experience a completely different world.
At iFLY Wilmington, she stepped into the wind tunnel and flew alongside Emma Johnson and Gabe Heller of CFH Next Gen.
For a young girl accustomed to running across a soccer field, suddenly she was flying.
That moment captured something fundamental about Children of Fallen Heroes.
Emma and Gabe’s world is indoor skydiving.
Her world is soccer.
CFH brought those worlds together.
Not because we expect every child to become an indoor skydiver.
Not because every child needs to follow the same path.
We believe young people should have opportunities to discover what is possible — surrounded by other young people who encourage them, challenge them and remind them that their future can be bigger than any single chapter of their story.
Sometimes that happens in a wind tunnel.
Sometimes it happens on a soccer field.
And soon, it will happen on an 82-acre campus being built for the next generation.
The Field
Why Flynn Field
At America’s Campus for the Next Generation, Children of Fallen Heroes is creating a multipurpose athletic field where young people can play, compete, learn and belong.
That field will be called:
Flynn Field
It will carry Liam’s name.
The decision is deeply personal.
Liam’s daughter loves soccer. We have watched her grow, watched her experience something new alongside our CFH Next Gen athletes, and watched Destiny turn unimaginable loss into a commitment to helping others.
Naming this field after Liam connects all of those pieces.
A fallen father. A daughter growing up. A mother carrying his legacy. And a place being created so thousands of young people can discover their own possibilities.
What Happens Here
A Field Filled With Life
Flynn Field will honor a fallen Marine, but it will not be a place defined by death.
It will be filled with life.
There will be soccer games and practices.
Children will run onto the field.
Coaches and mentors will teach.
Families will cheer from the sidelines.
Young people will learn teamwork, leadership, discipline and resilience.
There will be goals scored and games lost. There will be celebrations and disappointments. Kids will fall down, get back up and try again.
And sometimes, they will simply run around and have fun.
That’s important too.
Some of the young people who come to Flynn Field will be children of fallen military members and first responders. Others will come through CFH programs, schools, community partnerships and youth organizations.
They will arrive with different backgrounds and different stories.
On Flynn Field, they will simply be kids with opportunities ahead of them.
Our Commitment
More Than a Memorial
Children of Fallen Heroes believes honoring those who served means doing more than remembering the day we lost them.
It means remembering what they lived for.
It means standing beside the families they left behind.
And it means investing in their children not just immediately after tragedy, but throughout the years when those children are growing, discovering their interests and becoming young adults.
A child who loses a parent at one year old will have different questions at six.
Different dreams at twelve.
Different challenges at sixteen.
Their story continues.
Our commitment should continue with them.
That is what Flynn Field represents.
Liam’s daughter has already experienced that idea firsthand.
A young soccer player stepped into a wind tunnel with Emma and Gabe and discovered what it felt like to fly.
Someday, another child may arrive at America’s Campus having never kicked a soccer ball.
They may step onto Flynn Field and discover something they love.
And another child may look across that field toward aviation, STEAM, agriculture or another opportunity on the campus and discover an entirely different future.
That is the campus we are building.
Not a monument to what was lost.
A place devoted to what comes next.
The Next Generation
The Legacy Continues
Generations of young people who never had the privilege of meeting Staff Sergeant Liam A. Flynn will run across a field bearing his name.
Many may never know his entire story.
But they will benefit from what his story helped inspire.
- Play
- Compete
- Learn
- Belong
- Dream
And somewhere among them may be another child who discovers something they never imagined they could do.
A hero remembered.
A family beside us.
A field filled with possibility.
A legacy carried forward by the next generation.
Flynn Field.
Help Build Flynn Field
Flynn Field is a capital project on America’s Campus for the Next Generation. Partner investment turns 82 acres into a permanent place where young people can:
- Play
- Compete
- Learn
- Belong
- Discover what’s possible
Corporate citizenship partners and major campus donors build the infrastructure the next generation inherits.
Help Build What Comes Next →Explore America’s Campus for the Next Generation