When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast it destroyed more than just property and possessions -- it destroyed memories.

Six months later, surrounded by her late son’s fellow warriors, Denise Godbolt cried and hugged Susan Jarrett as the Jarrett family presented Mrs. Godbolt with two new shadow boxes Feb. 8, replacing ones damaged during Hurricane Katrina.

Retired Tech. Sgt. Mike Jarrett and his wife, Susan, decided to replace the damaged shadow boxes for Mrs. Godbolt after seeing her on a Veterans Day newscast on their local television station.

“My wife saw her on the local news about two or three months ago,” Sergeant Jarrett said. “When we found out that her son had been killed in Iraq about a year prior, it really made it special to me.”

Sergeant Jarrett is no stranger to making shadow boxes. He is the woodcraft manager here.

“Since my husband builds them for a living, I told him we had to do something'” Mrs. Jarrett said.

The original shadow boxes were presented to Mrs. Godbolt after her son, Army Sgt. Lee Myles Godbolt, was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb March 26, 2004.

Sergeant Godbolt was a Reservist assigned to the 1st Battalion, 141st Field Artillery out of New Orleans.

“That was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life,” said Mrs. Godbolt (referring to the death of her son.) “But I know he hasn’t been forgotten when I accept so many awards and decorations for his service”

Mrs. Godbolt’s home was part of the devastated Ninth Ward in lower New Orleans, a neighborhood destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

“My boxspring was on my mattress, my file cabinet was on my dresser and my refrigerator was waiting for me at the front door,” Mrs. Godbolt said.

She said she saved or restored everything with her son’s name on it, and proudly displays his awards in a large case in her sitting room. These two shadow boxes are the last of her son’s missing or damaged awards.

“The boxes had been under water for about two weeks,” Sergeant Jarrett said. “Everything had (mold on it). I didn’t even get the original box. I was only able to use the rank, the award from the state of Louisiana and the coins.”

He said that once he got all the awards and decorations, it only took about two to three days to complete.

“There are really no words to describe the appreciation I feel toward the Jarrett family,” Mrs. Godbolt said.