{"id":278831,"date":"2026-05-21T00:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/278831\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T00:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:18:13","slug":"cape-coral-hero-to-be-honored-at-white-house-memorial-day-observance-lee-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/278831\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Coral hero to be honored at White House Memorial Day observance | Lee County"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)\u2014A fallen American hero who grew up in Cape Coral will be honored by the White House on Memorial Day in Washington D.C.<\/p>\n

U.S. Army Special Forces Capt. Daniel Eggers gave his life serving in Afghanistan in 2004. As a Green Beret, his family says, Eggers was dedicated to protecting others.<\/p>\n

Eggers’ parents\u2014William and Margaret\u2014tell WINK News they were shocked to get a call from the White House inviting them to the nation’s capitol to honor their son.<\/p>\n

“We were so surprised that it’s happening to the Eggers family, giving all that honor to our son, who gave his life for this country,” William Eggers said.<\/p>\n

Eggers will be one of two American heroes honored at a candlelit ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day. The ceremony will be part of Freedom 250’s National Memorial Day of Observance<\/a>, in an evening focused on stories of service.<\/p>\n

“This whole event was a real surprise to us, and it’s just a wonderful thing,” Margaret Eggers said.<\/p>\n

Eggers’ story includes a legacy of leadership, sound judgement and deep dedication to his country\u2014told by his teammates, historians and his family. The 28-year-old hero’s memory is permanent in Southwest Florida\u2014from his dedicated highway off the Midpoint Bridge<\/a> to memorial bricks placed in his honor.<\/p>\n

But, most importantly, his story shines through his loved ones. Eggers’ niece Kiley Lebid can’t make the Memorial Day event because she’s working to honor her uncle in her own way.<\/p>\n

“I’m actually not attending the event, I leave for basic training for the army on Monday, so coming from a family of gold stars, it’s kind of inspiring that this is all happening around the same time,” Lebid said.<\/p>\n

In serving her country, Lebid hopes she’s making her uncle proud. Wednesday evening, the teen and fellow Fort Myers U.S. Army recruits participated in a memorial ruck across the Caloosahatchee Bridge to remember brave soldiers, like Eggers, who gave everything for our freedom.<\/p>\n

“I just hope I can carry on the legacy,” Lebid said.<\/p>\n

A legacy that lives within Eggers’ loved ones and continues to shine across our country.<\/p>\n

“Danny had said to us he would always be with us, so it just makes us feel close,” Margaret Eggers said.<\/p>\n

The ceremony will take place Monday night at Arlington National Cemetery, and the Eggers family will be there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)\u2014A fallen American hero who grew up in Cape Coral will be honored by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[17857,209,211,210,28,119022,1521,9102],"class_list":["post-278831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-caloosahatchee-bridge","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-florida","tag-fort-myers-u-s-army","tag-southwest-florida","tag-white-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}