PARTIAL LIST AT THIS TIME 2003 Pfc. James R. Dillon Jr. Hometown: Grove City, Pennsylvania, U.S. Age: 19 years old Died: March 13, 2003 in Operation Enduring Freedom. Unit: Marines, 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif.Incident: Died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in Kuwait. Capt. Tristan N. Aitken Hometown: State College, Pennsylvania, U.S. Age: 31 years old Died: April 4, 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unit: Army, 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery, 3rd Army Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga. Incident: Killed in an ambush by a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher near Baghdad's international airport. He was riding in the lead vehicle in an artillery supply convoy. Army Capt. Tristan N. Aitken, 31, of State College, Pa., grew up just blocks from Pennsylvania State University, where his mother taught. He attended Centre County (Pa.) Christian Academy, where he played soccer and basketball and ran track. He went to Texas Christian University to study pre-med and won the Distinguished Military Graduate medal. A former Eagle Scout, Aitken enjoyed working with children and returned from college to teach riflery at a Boy Scout camp. "He graduated straight from Boy Scouts and merit badges to ROTC and medals," said his mother, Ruth Aitken. Aitken, who came from a military family, served in Korea and in Kosovo, where he was in charge of supply inventory and worked with medical units. Tristan Neil Aitken Captain, United States Army 23 April 2003: In Afghanistan, Iraq, They 'Gave All' At Arlington Cemetery, Airman, Soldier Praised for Their Sacrifice During the service at Arlington National Cemetery for Staff Sergeant Jason C. Hicks, his wife, Crystalyn, lays a yellow rose on the coffin. His mother, Taresa, is with a family friend, at right. By Patricia Davis Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, April 23, 2003 There are yellow ribbons tied around every pole in downtown Pageland, South Carolina, and American flags fly at half-staff. But the anguish the tiny community feels may be spelled out best in the banner that stretches across Main Street: "Thanks for everything. In memory of Jason Hicks." The 25-year-old Hicks was one of six U.S. airmen killed March 23, 2003, in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Family members and friends say Hicks, who was twice deployed to serve in Operation Enduring Freedom, most recently in January, died the same way he lived his abbreviated life: His HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter went down during a thunderstorm while the crew was trying to pick up two children with life-threatening head injuries. "That was just typical Jason," said Eddie Rivers, chief of the Pageland Fire Department, where Hicks, like his father before him, was a volunteer firefighter. "He was always interested in helping someone else." At a rain-slickened grave site at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday, Staff Sgt. Jason C. Hicks was honored for helping an entire nation. As a clear plastic tarp was carefully removed from his flag-draped coffin, and those who loved him most huddled close in the springtime chill, an HH-60 Pave Hawk roared overhead in a final salute. "As we look around, we see that there are thousands of inscriptions and names that represent . . . the history of this great nation," Chaplain Mark Thomas said as rain tapped gently on the corrugated awning. "This afternoon we add another individual to the record of names who are identified as loving this country more than self. The cost of adding the name of Staff Sergeant Jason Hicks comes at a high price. He gave all to ensure freedom for all." So, too, did Army Captain Tristan N. Aitken, 31, who also was buried at Arlington yesterday. Aitken, who grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, died in Iraq April 4, 2003, when he was hit with a round from a shouldermounted rocket launcher while riding in the lead vehicle of an artillery supply convoy. Aitken, assigned to the 41st Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia, leaves behind a wife of 16 months, Margo. At Texas Christian University, he was a member of ROTC. Ronald Aitken told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that his son was a devout Christian who went to spring break in Fort Lauderdale while in college, not to party, but to preach on the beach to other students. "His faith sustained him," Ronald Aitken said. "It was his shield. . . . He was a rock." With U.S. forces defending freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq, for some at the cost of their lives, these have been busy days at the nation's preeminent military cemetery. At least five other service members who died in Iraq will be buried at Arlington this week, including today's service for Army First Lieutenant Jeffrey J. Kaylor, of Clifton. Kaylor, 24, a graduate of Centreville High School, was killed April 7 in a grenade attack about 20 miles outside Baghdad. He is survived by his wife Jenna, a Second Lieutenant in the Army. The two met as members of Virginia Tech's Corps of Cadets. Like Aitken, Kaylor was assigned to Fort Stewart, with the 39th Field Artillery. He was deployed to the Middle East last August; his wife was serving in Kuwait at the time of his death. Yesterday, Jenna Kaylor had this to say about her husband of 15 months: "Since the day Jeff entered my life, I have carried his soul with me everywhere. He is my strength, my love, my passion, my life. . . . The world is not complete without him -- I am not complete." The family has requested a private funeral. Jason and Crystalyn Hicks had planned a traditional wedding next month, when he got back from Afghanistan. But four days before he left in January, they decided not to wait and have a second service when he got back. Crystalyn planned to be with her husband on his next posting, to Japan, his sister, Janet Barbee, said yesterday. Hicks, who joined the Air Force in 1996 after graduating from high school and working for the Pageland Fire Department, discussed the upcoming church wedding in the last e-mail his sister received from him, on March 23, the day he died. Their mother, Taresa, had a bad feeling when Hicks was first sent to Afghanistan, last July, for three months, Barbee said. She didn't want him to go. But Hicks assured his family that if he did die, he would be doing what he loved most. "Nobody twisted my arm to do this," he told his sister. "Make sure they give me my flag." Yesterday, his wife and his mother were each presented with an American flag at his grave. 23 April 2003: ARLINGTON, Virginia -Army Capt. Tristan Aitken, who was killed in combat in Iraq on April 4, 2003, once said, "a true winner always gives his best, not to the glory of self, but to the glory of God." The State College native was buried Tuesday with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. The ceremony began with a salute to the fallen hero. His flag-draped casket was carried from a horse-drawn caisson to the gravesite by an eight-man honor guard. Following them were Aitken's wife of 15 months, Maria Forey-Aitken, his parents, Ronald and Ruth Aitken, and his sister Terryl. They took small steps, keeping time with the Army band, their pride as evident as their grief. Up to 100 other relatives and friends, including babies in their parents' arms, accompanied the Aitkens. "To be buried in Arlington, you have to earn it," said Army Chaplain Douglas Fenton, who presided over a 20-minute funeral service at the Fort Myer Chapel next to the cemetery. "Your character and your sacrifices pave the way. And so we honor Tristan for that." Tristan Aitken was deployed on January 24 with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, based in Fort Stewart, Georgia. He was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his Humvee. Ron Aitken, Tristan's father, said his son, who was in charge of 217 soldiers, was riding in the lead vehicle in an artillery supply convoy when the attack occurred. "He always led his people," Ron Aitken said in an interview earlier this month. "He never waited in the back." Aitken, an Eagle Scout and a graduate of the Centre County Christian Academy, where he played soccer and basketball and ran track, comes from a military family. His father is a retired officer in the Navy Reserves, and his sister is an Army lieutenant. Aitken graduated in 1995 from Texas Christian University with a Distinguished Military Graduate medal. A devout Christian, he led the Officers Christian Fellowship at TCU. He has also served tours of duty in Korea and Kosovo, where he was responsible for supply inventory and assisted medical units. Aitken's sister broke down in tears during a short speech at the chapel funeral, and his aunt read a short poem about "America's Heroes." Fenton, striking a comparison with Aitken's mission in Iraq, reminded the congregation of about 60 people that Christ asked believers to "love thy neighbor." "Tristan served in Iraq, and you might ask, 'Is Iraq our neighbor?' I think Jesus would answer that there are no people on Earth that are not our neighbor, and I am confident that Tristan believed that in his soul," Fenton said. "To go to a faraway land, not just to serve the United States Army, but to also serve God and mankind." Aitken was the 10th casualty from the war in Iraq to be buried at Arlington. A spokeswoman said seven more were scheduled to be laid to rest there. Arlington has been home to America's departed war heroes since 1864, its austere white tombstones commemorating the dead from the American Revolution, the Civil War, Vietnam and the two World Wars. About 280,000 people have been interred within the cemetery's 624 acres, and about 25 funerals take place each day. At the grave, the honor guard held the Stars and Stripes over Aitken's casket as Fenton spoke reassuring words to the family. He spoke of Aitken's competitive nature, remarking that he had raced twice in a soapbox derby and then, later in life, changed to driving a military Humvee. Aitken "fought the good fight for his family, his country, and his God," Fenton said. The chaplain read from 1 Corinthians 9:24, a carefully chosen passage that echoed Aitken's own philosophy: "Don't you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win." As the sun disappeared into the gray clouds overhead, Fenton said a prayer. Then, the family stood while a rifle salute was fired -- three shots in quick succession, their abruptness a contrast to the gentle, familiar strains of taps, which followed on a bugle. The honor guard began to fold the flag, and as the Army band played "America the Beautiful" it started to rain. The meticulously folded flag was presented to Aitken's wife by a kneeling Brigadier General Mark T. Kimmitt. She was also given her husband's Purple Heart medal, awarded to soldiers wounded in battle, and a Bronze Star for meritorious service. Ruth Aitken also was presented with a flag and a Purple Heart. Once the ceremony was over, the family walked away from the gravesite, to be comforted by the other mourners. Family members declined to be interviewed for this story. An Officer and Gentleman April 8, 2003 Ruth Aitken did not believe in the war in Iraq, but she believed deeply in her son, Army Captain Tristan N. Aitken. "I have made a decision, Tristan. I want to be an activist," she recalled telling him on the telephone last fall. "My question is, Do you have any problem with that?" "Mom, you're my Mom," said her son, who was killed Friday in the fighting at Baghdad International Airport. "You can be whatever you want to be, you know that." So the mother dismissed the war as an American power play for oil, wrote to local politicians in State College, Pennsylvania, where she lives, and cried when she watched the TV coverage. And the son prepared for the war for which he seemingly had always trained - roughing it outdoors as an Eagle Scout, snapping bullets into bull's-eyes as a state-champion marksman and mastering his classwork as the 1995 Distinguished Military Graduate from Texas Christian University. "Whenever he said something about freeing Iraqis, I would tell him what I thought, but I was also very proud of who he was, and I respected him for doing his job," Ruth Aitken said yesterday. "He was not really a fighter, you know. He joined the military because he genuinely wanted to make a contribution to society." Aitken, 31, died on Friday, 4 April 2003, as American troops swarmed the Baghdad airport, when a rocket-propelled grenade struck the vehicle in which he was riding. Among the other casualties announced yesterday was Army Sergeant Wilbert Davis, 40, Hinesville, Georgia, who was killed Thursday along with journalist Michael Kelly when their Humvee flipped and landed in a canal. The military also notified relatives of a Gulf War veteran, Army Sergeant Stevon Booker, 34, of Apollo, Pennsylvania, that he had been killed. Booker was a tank commander with the 3rd Infantry Division. Aitken is survived by his wife of 15 months, Margo; his parents, Ronald and Ruth; and his sister, Terry, who is in the ROTC at the Illinois College of Optometry. Although disturbed by the war that has taken her son, Ruth Aitken found comfort in recalling her family's happier times. In the 1980s, the Aitkens were the "A-Team" in national soap-box derby competitions. They wore black jackets and matching caps, and young Tristan took the controls of the motorless racer he and his father had built together. "I've often thought, that's where I really noticed his eye hand coordination that later must have helped him in the Army," Ruth Aitken said. As an Eagle Scout, Tristan Aitken was a member of the Order of the Arrow, Scouting's honor society. At TCU, he led the Officers Christian Fellowship. He had the privilege of training with Army Rangers as an undergraduate. His were deft hands with weapons, with vehicles, with global positioning devices, colleagues told his mother. One officer, Ruth Aitken recalled, told her that her son had "a third or fourth sense about things." In a letter dated March 6 that was received only recently by the family, Tristan Aitken asked his family not to worry about his welfare and to pray for the "safety and protection" of men and women under his command." "He cared so deeply about his soldiers and their families," Ruth Aitken said. "He would rather have taken that hit on Friday than any of the men and women he worked with. I know that. I just know that." Army Captain Tristan N. Aitken, 31, of State College, Pennsylvania, assigned to 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Georgia, has been killed in action in Iraq. As a teen, Tristan Aitken raced twice in the national Soap Box Derby Championships. But the Army’s high-tech fighting machines became his professional passion. His father, Ron, said Aitken often marveled at how “ ‘they pay me to play with these things.’ It’s Star Wars for him. He loved it.” Aitken, 31, of State College, Pennsylvania, died April 4, 2003, in Iraq when a grenade struck his Humvee. “He was a gung-ho’er,” Ron Aitken said. “He went into Iraq saying: ‘Dad, I’m in God’s hands. Don’t worry about me.’ The father, a retired Chief Petty Officer in the Navy Reserve, was bitter at the loss: “To lose my son for some people’s hidden agenda in an unjust war is a real tragedy.” “My kids are Republicans, and my wife and I are Democrats,” the father said. “We agreed to disagree about the war, but we support our kids 100 percent. Tristan’s sister, Terryl, is an Army Lieutenant. He is also survived by his wife, Margo, who is a teacher in Fort Stewart, Georgia. Robert Baylor, the principal at Centre County (Pennsylvania) Christian Academy, where Aitken attended high school, recalled Aitken and his pals playing war games with squirt guns during their senior class trip to Dollywood in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Aitken wrote an e-mail in February from Kuwait to Peter Ort, one of his high school buddies: “We’ve been on different paths, you and I, and I think we have done great for being the worst troublemakers the school saw in quite a while.” AITKEN, TRISTAN NEIL CPT US ARMY VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 05/12/1995 - 04/04/2003 DATE OF BIRTH: 05/18/1971 DATE OF DEATH: 04/04/2003 DATE OF INTERMENT: 04/22/2003 BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7869 ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY An Army honor guard lowers the casket of Army Captain Tristan Aitken of State College, Pennsylvania, during funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery Tuesday, April 22, 2003 Army Brigadier General Mark T. Kimmitt, left, presents the United States flag that draped the casket of Army Captain Tristan Aitken of State College, Pennsylvania, to his widow Maria Forey-Aitken during funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery Tuesday, April 22, 2003. Aitken was killed April 4 during an attack in Iraq Courtesy of Barbara McGlynn, Valentines's Day February 2006 Webmaster: Michael Robert Patterson Posted: 22 April 2003 Updated: 23 April 2003 Updated: 7 July 2003 Updated: 21 May 2004 Updated: 30 October 2004 Updated: 18 November 2005 Updated: 11 February 2006 Updated: 14 May 2008 Army Capt. Tristan N. Aitken 31, of State College, Pa.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga. killed in action in Iraq. As a teen, Tristan Aitken raced twice in the national Soap Box Derby championships. But the Army’s high-tech fighting machines became his professional passion. His father, Ron, said Aitken often marveled at how “ ‘they pay me to play with these things.’ It’s Star Wars for him. He loved it.” Aitken, 31, of State College, Pa., died April 4 in Iraq when a grenade struck his Humvee. “He was a gung-ho’er,” Ron Aitken said. “He went into Iraq saying: ‘Dad, I’m in God’s hands. Don’t worry about me.’ The father, a retired chief petty officer in the Navy Reserve, was bitter at the loss: “To lose my son for some people’s hidden agenda in an unjust war is a real tragedy.” “My kids are Republicans, and my wife and I are Democrats,” the father said. “We agreed to disagree about the war, but we support our kids 100 percent. Tristan’s sister, Terryl, is an Army lieutenant. He is also survived by his wife, Margo, who is a teacher in Fort Stewart, Ga. Robert Baylor, the principal at Centre County (Pa.) Christian Academy, where Aitken attended high school, recalled Aitken and his pals playing war games with squirt guns during their senior class trip to Dollywood in Gatlinburg, Tenn. Aitken wrote an e-mail in February from Kuwait to Peter Ort, one of his high school buddies: “We’ve been on different paths, you and I, and I think we have done great for being the worst troublemakers the school saw in quite a while.” — USA Today and The Associated Press Pfc. Timmy R. Brown, Jr. Hometown: Conway, Pennsylvania, U.S. Age: 21 years old Died: August 12, 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unit: Army, D Company, 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Bragg, N.C. Incident: Pfc. Brown died of injuries sustained while traveling in a convoy hit by an explosive device. Soldier killed in Iraq to receive Purple Heart, Bronze Star Associated Press CONWAY, Pa. — A 21-year-old soldier killed in Iraq will receive the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and other honors posthumously, the Army announced. The medals will be sent in time for the Aug. 20 funeral of Army Pfc. Timothy R. Brown Jr., according to Maj. Steven Chung, deputy provost marshal for the 99th Regional Readiness Command in Moon Township. Brown, a native of Conway, about 20 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, was assigned to D Company, 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, based at Fort Bragg, N.C. He was killed by an explosive device while traveling in a convoy Aug. 12 just north of Baghdad. On Aug. 17, more than 250 people gathered at the Conway War Memorial to pay tribute to Brown. Candles were passed through the crowd and friends and families left flowers on the memorial. Some held American flags and a bell was struck to honor Brown. Brown’s father, Timothy Brown Sr., and his stepmother, Pam Brown, were presented with a flag. “He was a spectacular human being,” said Bryan Revelant, 19, one of Brown’s friend. “He would give you the shirt off his back if you asked him to.” Pennsylvania soldier killed by explosive device in Iraq PITTSBURGH — A western Pennsylvania man was killed by an explosive device while traveling in a convoy in Iraq, the Defense Department. Pfc. Timothy R. Brown Jr., 21, a native of Conway, about 20 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, was assigned to D Company, 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, based at Fort Bragg, N.C. He died Aug. 12 in Taji, about 12 miles north of Baghdad. Brown’s stepmother, Pam Brown Lois, said Thursday she was “devastated.” She said did not want to talk about her stepson until she heard more about his death from the military. Brown’s friend, Bryan Revelant, 19, described the 2001 graduate of Freedom Area High School as a prankster who was popular with his peers. “This is real tough. We were so close because I knew him all my life. He was like my brother,” Revelant said. Brown decided to enlist in the Army on April 1, 2001, just to see his friends’ reactions, Revelant said. “He thought it’d be funny to do it on April Fools’ Day. He was one of those jokesters,” said Revelant, a 2002 graduate of Freedom Area High School. Brown signed up for two years of military service and was scheduled to be discharged in February. But Revelant said Brown was having second thoughts about leaving the Army. “He wanted to go to Iraq ... When he got over there, he said he wanted to stay,” Revelant said. Since May 1, when President Bush declared major combat over in Iraq, 60 American soldiers have died in attacks. Eight Britons have been killed in combat in the same period. — Associated Press Officer praises Atlanta soldier killed in Iraq sniper fire ATLANTA — A soldier who was killed in Iraq last week saved the lives of his men by warning them about the sniper fire while lying mortally wounded, his commanding officer said. Army 1st Lt. Tyler Hall Brown was “an inspirational leader, both on the field of battle and off. In numerous enemy contacts, he was calm, leading his men with bravery and aplomb,” Capt. Daniel M. Gade said in e-mails to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week. Brown, 26, was killed Sept. 14 in the town of Ramadi, about 70 miles east of Baghdad, when he was hit in the upper thigh and bled to death, Gade said. “He died of his wounds rather quickly,” he wrote from Iraq. The sniper, who fired at long range, got away, Gade added. The former Georgia Tech student body president was honored Sept. 22 in a funeral at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta. Brown will be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on Sept. 28. Gade, 29, said he and Brown became friends in South Korea, where their 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, had been deployed before going to Iraq. The Army unit had been in the Middle East for only two weeks before the sniper attack. Brown had been approved for service in the 3rd Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, which patrols the Tomb of the Unknowns and serves as an escort on military burials at Arlington, but he instead chose to join his battalion in Iraq “over this prestigious assignment,” Gade said. “Tyler was the finest officer I’ve ever known ... he loved his men, and they loved him in return,” he said. — Associated Press Army Pfc. Timmy R. Brown, Jr. 21, of Conway, Pennsylvania. Brown was in a convoy in Taji, Iraq when he was injured by an explosive device. Brown died of his injuries. Brown was assigned to D Company, 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Died on August 12, 2003. I stand before you today, because I have been given the privilege and honor of being asked by the United States Army to make the decisions regarding how to best pay tribute to one of their finest fallen solders. Today, that soldier happens to be my only son, PFC Timmy Ray Brown, Jr. The first thing I thought when they told me that my son had been killed, besides every parents' wish that there must be a mistake, was that the only fitting way to honor Timmy was to bury him in Arlington National Cemetery with his fellow soldiers. Many people have asked me, "Why Arlington?", when his family and friends are here. I cannot fully explain why I came to this conclusion, in my time of shock and disbelief, other than to express my wish for Tim to have in death, that which I wanted for him in life, only the very best. The price for membership in the very exclusive club, known as Arlington National Cemetery, is very high. You must have given your life in defense of your country to be admitted. Tim has paid that price. Before he takes his place among all the other brave men and women that have given their all to keep us safe and free, however, I knew he would have wanted to come home first, to Beaver County, Pennsylvania, to say goodbye to his family, friends and classmates. Tim was a very unique and special person. He suffered from the same affliction that I do, which is 'thinking too much'. He could never accept things as they were. He was always looking for the deeper meaning in everything he encountered. "What's below the surface?" he always wanted to know. I remember when he was a kid; his favorite toy was a flashlight, which he rarely used for its intended purpose. He would instead take it apart to see how it worked. There were a lot of things around the house, like that flashlight, that somehow just came apart and never seemed to find their way back together. A trait that, at the time, aggravated me. Especially when I had to find all the pieces of the TV remote, in his room full of experiments, and then attempt to reassemble it. When I think back to what my room looked like when I was young, though, I can remember that mine was much worse. His next favorite toy was the trampoline. He would jump on that thing for 8 hours straight. He and I would have battles for hours trying to knock each other down. He would, of course, always win. The stamina of youth versus the wisdom of age, I can tell you, is no match on a trampoline. All of the kids from the neighborhood would be there and the noise was unbearable at times, especially after a hard day's work. I find myself missing those sounds now. When he was 15 years old, his independent nature truly showed through, when he asked me why he had been named Timmy Ray Brown, Jr. At the time I was shocked and hurt that he would ask such a thing. In my vanity, I felt he should be proud to share my name. I explained to him that it was my own selfish desire to live on through my son that led him to share my name. I understood, though, that he meant no disrespect when he asked; he just wanted to be his own person with his own identity. He achieved that with a vengeance. I now find myself the one who is proud to share his name. Tim has turned the table on his fear of having to live in my shadow. It is now I who will forever have to walk in his. Tim was eager to serve his country. The events of 9-11 troubled him a great deal and he could not wait to do his part. The example that he has set forth far surpasses anything I have done or will ever do in my life. The pride and admiration I feel for my son cannot be put into words, but I promise you Tim that I will live my life in a way as to never bring shame to your memory. When God chose to give us Tim, He knew that one family would not be able to contain all of the love that Tim had to give. So He let us all share in the duties of shaping Tim into the man he became. In the beginning with his mother Cindy and her extended family. Followed by Pam and I, and our combined families. Then he adopted the Revalents, the Freedom High School Class of 2000, as well as my wife Jennifer's family. There was also Richard's family, and finally the United States Army. The list of people Tim knew as family is far too long for me to go into, for it would take a team of accountants to tally the endless list of lives he touched, and who thought of Tim as family. As you can see, it would be impossible for me to personally list everyone. If I didn't mention you, I am deeply sorry, but you know who you are and what you meant to him. Tim was, as all of you know, the kind of person that put all others before himself. I know that when this terrible event took place, he was grateful that it was he, and not one of his buddy's driving the truck behind him that got hurt. His aspirations for greatness had already been achieved. I only hope he knew how loved he was. Tim's job here with us is complete. Now he is needed elsewhere. He has taught each of us something unique about life. Each of you here today has been both touched by and learned something from him. We are all better for having known him. Tim, of all the times I was proud to be your father, if you added them all together and multiplied that times infinity, then you will only begin to realize and understand the pride that I feel for you now. I love you with all of my heart and always will. I would like to thank all of you for coming, to show your love and support at this time of loss. I would also like to thank everyone that is helping all the families get through this most trying time. But most of all, I would like to thank my son for the sacrifice he made to keep me, and all of us safe. I would also like to thank President Bush for having the courage and commitment to make the hard decisions he must make, fully knowing the sacrifices that will have to be made in order to keep us safe and prevent the atrocities of 9-11 from ever happening again. TIM R BROWN SR. Timmy Ray Brown, Jr. Private First Class, United States Army No. 598-03 IMMEDIATE RELEASE Aug 14, 2003 (703)697-5131(media) (703)428-0711(public/industry) DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today that Private first Class Timmy R. Brown, Jr., 21, of Conway, Pennsylvania, was killed on August 12, 2003, in Taji, Iraq. Brown was in a convoy when he was injured by an explosive device. Brown died of his injuries. Brown was assigned to D Company, 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Veterans, family honor Pfc. Brown Bill Vidonic, Times Staff 08/21/2003 FREEDOM - As mourners Wednesday honored the ultimate sacrifice of Private First Class Timothy Brown R. Jr., who was killed in Iraq on August 12, 2003, several wondered if it's a price that was too high. "I think that's what makes it so difficult," said Francine Palak of Baden, a former learning support teacher for Brown. "The war is supposed to be over, and we still have people getting killed." "I just think it's sad," Tony DiSanzo of Freedom said of Brown's death. "I wasn't for this war from the beginning." Nearly 200 family, friends, and strangers filled the auditorium of Freedom Middle School on Wednesday evening during a funeral service for Brown, of Conway, who was killed when the armored personnel carrier he was driving struck a land mine. Nearly three dozen veterans of various military branches made up honor guards that slowly passed Brown's flag-draped coffin, saluting their fallen brother as they went. Other veterans attended, including ex-Marine Pete Gerovac, 34, of Center Township, who had never met Brown, but felt his attendance Wednesday was a sign of respect and to show "he didn't lose his life in vain." Vietnam and Army veteran Gary Andresky, 53, of Aliquippa, lamented how little the people of the Middle East value life, but said Brown did the right thing, as "it's better to fight on foreign soil than to have them come here and have to fight here." Paul Walker, pastor of the Conway United Methodist Church, said that Brown now "has a new commander-in-chief," and is in a place where all the troubles of the world have been replaced with "peace and love and justice and harmony and freedom." Brown's father, Timothy R. Brown Sr., said his son is "a testament to what courage and valor are in this country," and also praised President George W. Bush for his strength in making tough decisions in the war on terrorism, decisions that have cost soldiers' lives. "Tim's job is done here, and now he is needed elsewhere," Brown Sr. said, his voice dropping to a whisper as he wept. Several others remembered Brown Jr. as a prankster, as someone who didn't care much about material wealth, instead making those around him laugh and putting their interests before his own. "Today, we remember a young man who was very special and we mourn this loss to the whole world," said U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, R-4, Bradford Woods. Throughout the day Wednesday, hundreds of others passed by Brown's casket, and many left handwritten condolence notes for Brown's family. One woman wrote, "I didn't know Tim, but I came to say thank you for serving our country and protecting our freedom." One man wrote, "His death ensures our freedom from worldly oppression," while another wrote, "Men like him are what keep us sleeping safely." As the last light of day dimmed, Brown's silver gray casket was wheeled from the auditorium to a waiting hearse, ready for a final journey to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Brown's burial is scheduled there for Friday. Courtesy of the Washington Post: Generous Son, Caring Soldier Laid to Rest By Eric M. Weiss Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, August 23, 2003 His life's journey led from a small town in Pennsylvania to travels in Canada to a dusty village 20 miles north of Baghdad. And yesterday Army Private First Class Tim R. Brown Jr. concluded the final leg with a hero's burial at Arlington National Cemetery. The 21-year-old from Conway, Pennsylvania, known as "Timmy" to his family and friends, was assigned to D Company of the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. On August 12 he was traveling with a convoy in Al Taji when he was killed by an explosion, the Army reported. Brown is the 26th casualty of the war in Iraq to be buried at Arlington. "His motivation was pure, and what he wanted to do was for the all the right reasons," said his father, Tim R. Brown Sr. "And if he was here now, he would know that I am as proud of him as a father can be." Brown was generous and caring, his father said. When his father and stepmother separated, he chose to stay with her. "He knew I was strong enough to get through it, but she wasn't. So he stayed," the elder Brown said. Once, when his son was traveling in Canada, he gave all his cash to a homeless person, then had to borrow from his friends to get back home. "That's just the way he was," his father recalled. In Iraq, the young private was moved by the conditions he observed. "He had seen a new kind of poverty over there and thought we really made a difference," his father said. "He really wanted to help the people over there. He said they weren't all enemies." The soldier's final journey was a 268-mile trip from Conway to Arlington in a mint-green hearse with an American flag fluttering over the hood. At Arlington, the casket, carefully draped with an American flag, was gently moved to the burial site in Section 60 of the cemetery. Nearby are 24 other Iraq casualties. Three of the graves are so new that they do not yet have headstones. Brown's family and friends followed his coffin, walking down a path covered in brown burlap and taking seats covered in green velvet. He was buried with traditional military honors. To one side, a sevenmember firing party lofted three shots into the air. The volleys were followed by the sounding of taps, the lone bugler under a pin oak amid the thousands of marble headstones standing like sentinels. Family members wiped away tears that mixed with the sweat of the 90degree day. Fellow soldiers who came to honor Brown stood off to the left, sweltering in their dress uniforms. An Army chaplain read the 23rd Psalm, and Brown's family was presented with his Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Lieutenant General Keith B. Alexander handed neatly folded flags to Brown's father and his mother, Cindy Miles. And, in a part of the ceremony that pivots the focus from the ceremonial to the personal, Alexander leaned close to the grieving parents and gave personal condolences. Miles clutched her flag to her breast and sobbed. After the media and other mourners had departed, she dropped to her knees before her son's coffin and rested her head on its silver top, still sobbing. Brown's father said an Arlington burial was fitting for one who gave his life for his country. "This is the last respect I can pay for my son, and my gratitude for his service," the elder Brown said. "I wanted to show my son how proud we were of him. 08/30/2003 The Beaver County Commissioners Thursday honored a Conway man killed in Iraq earlier this month. Commissioners presented proclamations to the father and stepmother of Army Pfc. Tim R. Brown Jr., 21, who died August 12, 2003, when the armored personnel carrier he was driving hit a land mine. He was the first Beaver County resident to die in Operation Enduring Freedom. Several county judges and row officers listened as commissioners Dan Donatella, Charlie Camp and Jimmy Albert spoke to Tim Brown Sr. of Big Beaver and Pam Brown Lois of their loss. "Your son is in a place that's really, really treasured by America," Albert said of Brown's Friday burial in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. "Your son is not forgotten. Your son did not die in vain." BROWN, TIMMY RAY JR PFC US ARMY DATE OF BIRTH: 02/10/1982 DATE OF DEATH: 08/12/2003 BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7886 ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY Family members mourn at the graveside of Army PFC Timmy Brown, Jr. during his funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery Friday, August 22, 2003. Army Sergeant First Class Christopher Roussey plays TAPS at the funeral of Army PFC Timmy Brown, Jr. at Arlington National Cemetery Friday, Aug. 22, 2003 Cindy Miles weeps at the casket of her son, Army PFC Timmy Brown, Jr. as she is comforted by Major Steven Chung, Deputy Provost Marshall for the 99th Regional Readiness Command, after Timmy's funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery Friday, August 22, 2003 Courtesy of Barbara McGlynn, Valentines's Day February 2006 Posted: 23 August 2003 Updated: 3 September 2003 Updated: 21 February 2004 Updated: 5 May 2004 Updated: 6 August 2005 Updated: 11 February 2006 Updated: 24 March 2007 Tim R. Brown Sr. of Beaver Falls, Pa., lost his son, Pfc. Tim R. Brown Jr., in Iraq. I stand before you today, because I have been given the privilege and honor of being asked by the United States Army to make the decisions regarding how to best pay tribute to one of their finest fallen solders. Today, that soldier happens to be my only son, PFC Timmy Ray Brown, Jr. The first thing I thought when they told me that my son had been killed, besides every parents' wish that there must be a mistake, was that the only fitting way to honor Timmy was to bury him in Arlington National Cemetery with his fellow solders. Many people have asked me, "Why Arlington?", when his family and friends are here. I cannot fully explain why I came to this conclusion, in my time of shock and disbelief, other than to express my wish for Tim to have in death, that which I wanted for him in life, only the very best. The price for membership in the very exclusive club, known as Arlington National Cemetery, is very high. You must have given your life in defense of your country to be admitted. Tim has paid that price. Before he takes his place among all the other brave men and women that have given their all to keep us safe and free, however, I knew he would have wanted to come home first, to Beaver County, Pennsylvania, to say goodbye to his family, friends and classmates. Tim was a very unique and special person. He suffered from the same affliction that I do, which is 'thinking too much'. He could never accept things as they were. He was always looking for the deeper meaning in everything he encountered. "What's below the surface?" he always wanted to know. I remember when he was a kid; his favorite toy was a flashlight, which he rarely used for its intended purpose. He would instead take it apart to see how it worked. There were a lot of things around the house, like that flashlight, that somehow just came apart and never seemed to find their way back together. A trait that, at the time, aggravated me. Especially when I had to find all the pieces of the TV remote, in his room full of experiments, and then attempt to reassemble it. When I think back to what my room looked like when I was young, though, I can remember that mine was much worse. His next favorite toy was the trampoline. He would jump on that thing for 8 hours straight. He and I would have battles for hours trying to knock each other down. He would, of course, always win. The stamina of youth versus the wisdom of age, I can tell you, is no match on a trampoline. All of the kids from the neighborhood would be there and the noise was unbearable at times, especially after a hard days work. I find myself missing those sounds now. When he was 15 years old, his independent nature truly showed through, when he asked me why he had been named Timmy Ray Brown, Jr. At the time I was shocked and hurt that he would ask such a thing. In my vanity, I felt he should be proud to share my name. I explained to him that it was my own selfish desire to live on through my son that led him to share my name. I understood, though, that he meant no disrespect when he asked; he just wanted to be his own person with his own identity. He achieved that with a vengeance. I now find myself the one who is proud to share his name. Tim has turned the table on his fear of having to live in my shadow. It is now I who will forever have to walk in his. Tim was eager to serve his country. The events of 9-11 troubled him a great deal and he could not wait to do his part. The example that he has set forth far surpasses anything I have done or will ever do in my life. The pride and admiration I feel for my son cannot be put into words, but I promise you Tim that I will live my life in a way as to never bring shame to your memory. When God chose to give us Tim, He knew that one family would not be able to contain all of the love that Tim had to give. So He let us all share in the duties of shaping Tim into the man he became. In the beginning with his mother Cindy and her extended family. Followed by Pam and I, and our combined families. Then he adopted the Revalents, the Freedom High School Class of 2000, as well as my wife Jennifer's family. There was also Richard's family, and finally the United States Army. The list of people Tim knew as family is far too long for me to go into, for it would take a team of accountants to tally the endless list of lives he touched, and who thought of Tim as family. As you can see, it would be impossible for me to personally list everyone. If I didn't mention you, I am deeply sorry, but you know who you are and what you meant to him. Tim was, as all of you know, the kind of person that put all others before himself. I know that when this terrible event took place, he was grateful that it was he, and not one of his buddy's driving the truck behind him that got hurt. His aspirations for greatness had already been achieved. I only hope he knew how loved he was. Tim's job here with us is complete. Now he is needed elsewhere. He has taught each of us something unique about life. Each of you here today has been both touched by and learned something from him. We are all better for having known him. Tim, of all the times I was proud to be your father, if you added them all together and multiplied that times infinity, then you will only begin to realize and understand the pride that I feel for you now. I love you with all of my heart and always will. I would like to thank all of you for coming, to show your love and support at this time of loss. I would also like to thank everyone that is helping all the families get through this most trying time. But most of all, I would like to thank my son for the sacrifice he made to keep me, and all of us safe. I would also like to thank President Bush for having the courage and commitment to make the hard decisions he must make, fully knowing the sacrifices that will have to be made in order to keep us safe and prevent the atrocities of 9-11 from ever happening again. TIM R BROWN SR. Spec. Craig S. Ivory Hometown: Port Matilda, Pennsylvania, U.S. Age: 26 years old Died: August 17, 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unit: Army, 501st Forward Support Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade, Southern European Task Force, Vicenza, Italy Incident: Died in a German hospital of a stroke he suffered in Iraq. Army Spc. Craig S. Ivory Died August 17, 2003 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom 26, of Port Matilda, Pa.; assigned to the 501st Forward Support Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade, Southern European Task Force, Vicenza, Italy; died of a non-combatrelated cause Aug. 17 in Homberg University Hospital, Germany. Ivory had been medically evacuated from Kuwait on Aug. 12. It wasn’t until he became a medic that Spc. Craig S. Ivory found his niche. “Initially when he went into the Army, they made him a mechanic, which he hated,” said his father, Patrick J. Ivory. “He re-enlisted to become a medic.” The 26-year-old from Port Matilda, Pa., died Aug. 17 after suffering a stroke while serving in Iraq. He was based in Vicenza, Italy. Although he was not in a combat unit, Craig Ivory often was among the first medical responders when soldiers were injured in combat. He hoped to become a physician assistant after completing his service, his father said. As a high school student, Craig Ivory lettered in football and track and field and played clarinet and bass clarinet in the school’s concert and symphonic bands. He joined the Army in January 1997 and re-enlisted twice. — Associated Press SPC Craig Ivory, 26, was a proud Airborne Medic with the 173rd. Airborne Brigade. He loved his family and helping people. He graduated from State College Area HS before entering the Army. Craig S. Ivory PORT MATILDA, PA -- Specialist Craig S. Ivory, U.S. Army, 26, died in Homberg, Germany, Sunday of nonhostile injuries incurred while serving as a medic with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Kirkuk, Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Born Jan. 24, 1977 in Charleston, S.C., he was the son of CWO4 Patrick J. Ivory, U.S. Navy, Retired, of Port Matilda and Mary Kay Ivory, a former U.S. Navy nurse, of Hamilton Square. Spec. Ivory attended State College Area High School and graduated in 1996. He lettered in football, ran relay in track and field and participated in wrestling, played clarinet in the concert band and enjoyed weight lifting. He joined the U.S. Army in January 1997 and attended basic training at Fort Knox, KY, advanced individual training at Fort Jackson, SC, and paratrooper school at Fort Benning, GA. He served a one year tour in Pusan, Korea, before returning to the Fort Campbell, KY. He re-enlisted there and was transferred to Fort Sam Houston, TX, where he changed his military occupation to be a medic. He then served at Fort Bliss, TX, providing medical support to a Patriot Missile Battalion. He again re-enlisted there and was transferred to the 501st Forward Support Company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vicenza, Italy in August 2002. In March of 2003, the 173rd Airborne Brigade made a combat jump in to Northern Iraq. Spec. Ivory provided direct support to injured troops while working in the trauma unit and periodically went on patrol missions as the direct medical support for an infantry platton. His service awards and decorations included the U.S. Army Achievement Medal (two awards), National Defense Service Medal, U.S. Army Service Medal, Overseas Service Ribbon (two awards), U.S. Army Good Conduct Medal, Bronze Star, U.S. Army Commendation Medal (ARCOM) and Parachutist Badge along with serveral Unit Awards. Additionally, other medals and awards are pending. He intended to make the U.S. Army a career. As one of his closest aunts' said, "Craig died serving his country and doing what he loved best, taking care of his fellow soldiers." Spec. Ivory's two greatest hobbies while serving in the U.S. Army were bull riding, where he won in some minor rodeo's and being part of the base wrestling team in Vicenza. He had hoped to be part of the U.S. Army bull riding and wrestling teams in Europe. Upon completing his tour in Iraq, he had planned to attend college through the U.S. Army Opportunity College. He is survived by his parents and his stepmother, HMCS Teresa Ivory, U.S. Navy, Retired; his brother Brandon of Hamilton Square; his brother Sean and sister Amanda of Port Matilda, PA, who are students of the State College Area High School. He is also survived by his grandparents, Bernard C. Dennies and Mary K. Dennis of Parsippany; and his stepgrandparents, William and Phyllis Dunn of Land O'Lakes, FL. He is also survived by numerous aunts, uncles and cousins throughout the eastern and southern states. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Peter F. Ivory Sr. and Margaret M. (Fitzgerald) Ivory of Honesdale, PA, and his uncle, HMC(SS) Peter F. Ivory Jr., U.S. Navy Retired of Uncasville, CT. Visitation will be held at the Koch Funeral Home, 2401 S. Atherton St., State College, PA, 3-6 p.m. Sunday. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Good Sheperd Catholic Church, 867 Gray's Woods Blvd., State College, PA, 9:30 a.m. Monday with the Reverend Philip M. Bender officiating. Interment will be at the Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, RR #2, Annville, PA, with full military honors 2 p.m. Monday. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are requested to be sent to the Landstuhl Fisher House at the Landstuhl Army Medical Center. The Landstuhl Army Fisher House is a nonprofit lodge that provides comfort, caring and compassion for families of injured military personnel so that the families can be with their servicemen and women during their time of recovery or their last days. Donations in Craig's name may be sent to the Landstuhl Fisher House, CMR 402 Box 669, APO, AE 09180. Published in The Times, Trenton, on August 23, 2003 print Spec. Eric R. Hull Hometown: Uniontown, Pennsylvania, U.S. Age: 23 years old Died: August 18, 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unit: Army Reserves, 307th Military Police Company, U.S. Army Reserve, New Kensington, Pa. Incident: Spc. Hull was killed when an explosive device hit his vehicle. When they were young, Eric R. Hull's sister loved to help their father in the garage. Hull liked to follow his mother, aunts and grandmother around in the kitchen. Sometimes he would surprise his family with fresh-baked bread, his mother said. "He made the best Alfredo you'll ever taste," Deborah Hull said. Hull became a cook and went to Iraq with the Army Reserves. The 23-year-old from Uniontown, Pa., died Aug. 18 when his vehicle rode over a land mine while hauling supplies. He is survived by his wife, Missy, and two children, Mia Nicole, 2, and Dominic, 1. "He always had a grin on his face, He was such a happy-go-lucky person. The only thing he wanted to do was be at home with his children and his wife," Deborah Hull said. Obituary: Eric Hull / Fayette County reservist dies when truck hits mine Wednesday, August 20, 2003 By Ervin Dyer, Post-Gazette Staff Writer An Army reservist from Fayette County was killed when the vehicle he was driving struck a land mine Monday in Iraq. Eric Hull, 23, whose passion from an early age was cooking, was assigned to the 99th Regional Support Command's 307th Military Police Company based in New Kensington. His vehicle hit a mine after he had picked up food supplies and water from Baghdad airport. When he was 3, he showed his father, Raymond, how to scramble eggs. While his wife, Debbie, was hospitalized, the elder Hull needed to cook breakfast for his son, but wasn't very good at it. Even the dogs refused the eggs. "All the while," said Raymond Hull, "Eric was telling me I'm doing it wrong. His eggs were delicious. He could watch his mom in the kitchen and just catch on." Eric Hull took his culinary skills to the Army Reserve. He joined while still a junior in high school. The family got the news of his death on Monday, when Mr. Hull's father was called from his job at U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock and met two uniformed military personnel at his house. A lifelong resident of the Uniontown area, Mr. Hull meet his wife, Missy, at Uniontown Area High School, where he played on the football team. The couple has a daughter, Mia, 2, and a 1year-old son, Dominic. The couple recently finished building a house in Upper Middletown. Missy Hull moved in on Memorial Day, but Mr. Hull never saw the home, except in e-mail photos. Mr. Hull was a Boy Scout, earning the rank of Eagle Scout before 18 and going on to achieve three additional Eagle palms. He was an attentive, well-rounded Scout, said Ray Williams, former Troop 687 scoutmaster who guided Mr. Hull. "He was enthusiastic about everything." He did so well with the Boy Scouts, said his father, that they talked about him joining the Reserve. Both thought it would teach him further discipline and responsibility. After senior year of high school, Mr. Hull went to boot camp at Fort Jackson, S.C. He then trained as a cook for eight weeks at Fort Lee, Va. Two weeks after he finished there, in 1998, he came home and got married. Mr. Hull studied to be a chef at Westmoreland County Community College and worked at local restaurants and as an underchef at Nemacolin Woodlands. Six months ago, he was hired as a food services program director in Greene County, where he was in charge of school meals. He had always wanted to cook, said his father, and felt at home in the kitchen. "At holiday times, he helped his mother cook. When we went to Boy Scout camp, Eric always did the cooking. It was a role he enjoyed." Mr. Hull communicated with the family via e-mail but last spoke with his father about two weeks ago. He told them the area where he was stationed was safe but that he had to travel to the airport twice a week to pick up food and that there were mines and booby traps. "He sounded upbeat," said his father. "He knew there was danger, but he didn't seem to be worried that much." When Mr. Hull got his orders to go to Iraq, he told his father that while he would prefer staying with his children, he had a job to do. Mr. Hull's sister, Ashley, is three years younger and is in the Army stationed in Germany, where she serves as a supply specialist. According to her father, she was in training to be sent to Baghdad. Ervin Dyer can be reached at edyer@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1410. Families grieve as soldiers continue to die Monday, December 22, 2003 By Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette This region has sent so many sons and daughters to the military that every loud bang in some corner of the world is followed by the silence of families holding their breath and waiting. For the first month of the second Persian Gulf war, it seemed as if Western Pennsylvania would be spared. Then the phone call came to the family of Donald Oaks Jr. in Harborcreek, an Erie suburb. An errant bomb, dropped by a coalition airplane, had taken the region's first casualty of war. Oaks was 20. Erie buried its son with flourishes worthy of a hero. A downtown theater served as the venue for the funeral. Hundreds thronged into Wintergreen Gorge Cemetery, a rolling expanse of trees, gardens and greenery. The cemetery now is covered with the snow that blows off the Great Lakes every winter. In December, it was the kind of snow in which Donald Oaks Jr. used to look for the tracks of deer. "He really enjoyed it," said his grandfather, Sam Oaks. "He was here in December and he went out. Even if it was only one day." Young Oaks' hunting rifle now rests unused. He left his military insurance policy to his younger sister; he'd always promised to look out after her, his grandfather said. The family recently met with someone from the Army about the circumstances in which the young man died. Even in the face of endless news accounts detailing the accidental bombing that killed Oaks and two other soldiers, the Army held off making any official confirmation. Earlier this month, a letter arrived, stating the Army was ready to discuss its final report on the young soldier's death, which happened "as a result of the tragic accident which took place." "If you read between the lines, it tells you without seeing the report," Sam Oaks said. Oaks died just as the family of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch was jetting to an air base in Europe to reunite with their daughter, the lone survivor of an enemy ambush during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Other families in the region were reuniting around caskets. One day after Oaks was killed, Army Capt. Tristan N. Aitken, 31, born in Erie and raised in State College, was killed in action. The next day, Army Staff Sgt. Stevon A. Booker, 34, of Apollo, Armstrong County, fell in action in Baghdad. The list stretched on, even after President Bush declared the combat phase largely completed. From May through this month, more men and women would die in the occupation than in the initial invasion. Michael T. Gleason, 25, an Army specialist from Warren County, was killed when his Army vehicle swerved off a road between Mosul and Tikrit on May 30. Nine days later, Army Sgt. Micheal Dooley, 23, approached a car that had stopped at a traffic control post on the western Iraqi border. The occupants had cried out for help. Then they opened fire, killing him. His wife, Christine, was waiting at home in Murrysville, pregnant with their daughter, who was born three months later and promptly displayed for the cameras in a T-shirt reading "My Hero, My Daddy." An ambush in Baghdad killed Spc. Eric R. Hull, 23, on Aug. 18. He was in a military vehicle returning from an airport when a bomb claimed him. Spc. Rafael L. Navea, 34, of Oakland, left behind a wife and three young sons when his vehicle rolled over an improvised land mine in Fallujah on Aug. 27. Army communications Spc. Douglas J. Weismantle was raised in Spring Garden on the city's North Side. He was 28 when an Iraqi truck swerved and rolled over onto his Humvee on Oct. 13, killing him and another soldier. Ernest Bucklew, 33, an Army sergeant from Beaver County, was leaving Iraq to attend his mother's funeral when the Ch-47 Chinook helicopter in which he was riding was shot down Nov. 2. The Pentagon got him home in time to be buried beside his mother. Army Sgt. Nicholas A. Tomko, 24, of McKees Rocks, was the door gunner in a convoy when Iraqi insurgents opened fire, killing him Nov. 9. He was with the 307th Military Police unit out of New Kensington. A list of grief that began with an errant bomb in the early days of a war now threatens to stretch into a new year, leaving behind families in a region accustomed to loss. Char Fedak, who was planning to marry Donald Oaks after his return from Iraq, went on with her life. She works now as a dietary aide at a rehabilitation hospital. "It's been rough for all of us, just getting through the holidays," she said. Wintry weather has hit Erie with special force this year, freezing streets and burying the area around the cemetery. Fedak said she visits her fiance's grave as often as she can. "On clear days," she said, "I get up there." Dennis Roddy can be reached at droddy@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1965. Army Spc. Eric R. Hull Died August 18, 2003 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom 23, of Uniontown, Pa.; assigned to the 307th Military Police Company, U.S. Army Reserve, New Kensington, Pa.; killed when a military vehicle he was riding in hit an improvised explosive device Aug. 18 in Baghdad. Family: Pa. soldier killed by land mine in Iraq Associated Press PITTSBURGH — An Army Reserve cook from western Pennsylvania was killed by a land mine while hauling supplies in Iraq, his mother said Aug. 19. Spc. Eric R. Hull, 23, a married father of two young children from Uniontown, was a member of the 99th Regional Support Command’s 307th Military Police Company out of New Kensington, said his mother, Deborah Hull. Military personnel visited the home of Hull’s mother and father Aug. 18, but did not provide many details of his death, family members said. But a fellow reservist who was a passenger in the vehicle Eric Hull was driving at the time of the explosion said the two were returning to Baghdad with supplies Monday when the vehicle drove over the mine, Deborah Hull said. A 1998 graduate from Uniontown Area High School, Eric Hull was married to Missy Hull, 24, for almost five years. The couple had two children — Mia Nicole, who will be 3 in September, and 1-year-old Dominic. Workers recently completed work on the couple’s new home and Deborah Hull said her son never got to see it. “He always had a grin on his face. He was such a happy-go-lucky person. The only thing he wanted to do was be at home with his children and his wife; he loved her from the moment he laid eyes on her,” Deborah Hull said. Eric Hull worked at numerous restaurants in the Fayette County area and, most recently, he worked as a chef at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa. Before he and other reservists were called to their mobilization site at Fort Dix, N.J., Eric Hull had graduated from the Westmoreland County Community College and was lining up a job to lead a school cafeteria kitchen, Deborah Hull said. Her son played several defensive positions for his high school football team, as a child collected He-Man action figures and baseball cards, and was an Eagle Scout, Deborah Hull said. Eric Hull’s true talent, however, was in the kitchen. While his 19-year-old sister, Ashley, who is stationed in Germany with the Army, loved to help their father in his garage, Eric Hull liked to follow his mother, aunts and grandmother around in the kitchen. Sometimes, he would surprise his family with fresh-baked whole wheat bread, his mother said. “He made the best Alfredo you’ll ever taste,” she said. ***** Funeral set for Uniontown soldier killed in Iraq SMOCK, Pa. — Sgt. Eric R. Hull, 23, of Upper Middletown, was killed Aug. 18 when a truck in which he was riding was destroyed by an explosive device near Baghdad. He was a cook in the 307th Military Police Company, 519th Military Police Battalion. Hull’s funeral was set for 11 a.m. Aug. 27 at the Uppermiddletown United Methodist Church. The funeral will be preceded by an hour of visitation at the church. Interment will follow in LaFayette Memorial Park in Brier Hill. Hull was a former chef at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa in Farmington, and was a food service director for the Central Greene School District when he was called to active duty. He is survived by his wife, Missy DeFabbo Hull, and two young children, Mia and Dominic. A benefit fund was established for the children at National City Bank, in care of Missy Hull, Cherry Tree Plaza, 8 Matthew Drive, Uniontown, Pa. 15401. — Associated Press A benefit Fund was established for the children at National City Bank, in care of Missy Hill, Cherry Tree Plaza, 8 Matthew Drive, Uniontown, PA 15401. Eric was a devoted father and husband. He was 23 years old when he died but lived a whole life in those short years. He was a chef in civilian life and loved to spend time with his friends and family. His two kids Mia and Dominic and wife Missy of 5 years were his world. When Eric was killed he was in the process of building his very first house. He had a smile that could light up a room and a bubbly personality to match. He was traveling in a convoy when his vehicle was hit with an IED. He will always be in our hearts everyday and loved till we meet again. Sadly missed my Missy-Mia and Dominic Hull. Staff Sgt. Christopher E. Cutchall Hometown: McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. Age: 30 years old Died: September 29, 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unit: Army, Delta Troop, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan. Incident: A makeshift bomb hit his convoy west of Baghdad. As a teenager, Staff Sgt. Christopher Cutchall spent a lot of time hunting and fishing in the woods of Pennsylvania's rural Fulton County. "Chris wasn't very big physically. He grew up in the woods here hunting and fishing, so he knew how to shoot and how to sneak, and the Army built on that," said his father, Paul Cutchall. An Army scout, Cutchall had been in Iraq for less than a month when he was killed Sept. 29 by an explosive device west of Baghdad. The 30-year-old Cutchall had been in the military since 1991 and was stationed at Fort Riley. Cutchall, who grew up in McConnellsburg, Pa., planned to make the military his career, his father said. He had been to Germany, Turkey and most recently was in Kuwait. "He was a firm believer that everybody should serve their country," Paul Cutchall said. Cutchall is survived by his wife and two sons, ages 4 and 6. Sgt. Andrew Joseph Baddick Hometown: Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, U.S. Age: 26 years old Died: September 29, 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unit: Army, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. Incident: Drowned as he tried to rescue another soldier after their vehicle fell into a canal near Abu Ghraib prison. As his older sister remembers it, Sgt. Andrew Joseph Baddick never thought twice before rushing to help someone. "He feared nothing," Elizabeth Hoherchak said. "Nothing. There was no hesitation in him." Baddick, 26, of Jim Thorpe, Pa., drowned Sept. 29 when he tried to rescue another soldier whose vehicle had plunged into a canal in Iraq. He was stationed at Fort Bragg. Baddick had been serving in Afghanistan before going to Iraq, said Charles McHugh, a family friend. "I knew the boy all his life; I watched him grow up," McHugh said. "All he wanted to do was be in the Army and be a paratrooper, and he succeeded." Sgt. Andrew J. Baddick Sgt. Andrew Joseph ''AJ'' Baddick, 26, of Jim Thorpe, died Sept. 29 in Iraq where he was stationed with the Third Birrcade, 504th Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, N.C. He was in Iraq about a month and in 2002 worked with computers tracing troops from Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. He joined the Army in 1999, graduated from Jump School at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2001 and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division and re-enlisted for six years in 2002. He received the Enduring Freedom Army Achievement Medal this year and in 2002 he received the Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service. He was a 1997 graduate of Jim Thorpe Area High School. Born in Coaldale, he was a son of Joseph M. Baddick of Mohrsville and Ann (Callen) Baddick of Jim Thorpe, and a stepson of Sheila Baddick of Mohrsville. He was a Catholic. He was a volunteer fire fighter for Jim Thorpe Fire Company and a volunteer for the ambulance corps. Survivors: Parents; stepmother; fiancee, Nicole Cottle of Fort Bragg; sister, Elizabeth Ann Hoherchak of Jim Thorpe; paternal grandmother, Rose (Pelton) Baddick of Tamaqua; maternal grandmother, Gail (Zeiser) Stempel of White Haven, Luzerne County. Services: Mass, 10 a.m. Friday, St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Jim Thorpe. Call 5-9 p.m. Thursday in the church. Memorial tribute, 9 p.m. Thursday in the church. Arrangements, E. Franklin Griffiths & Robert C. Resser Funeral Home, Tamaqua. Contributions: To the church, or Jim Thorpe Ambulance Corps or Fire Company. Published in Morning Call on October 7, 2003 Army Sgt. Andrew Joseph Baddick 26, of Jim Thorpe, Pa.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Fort Bragg, N.C.; drowned Sept. 29 as he tried to rescue another soldier whose vehicle had entered a canal near Abu Ghraib Prison, Iraq. As his older sister remembers it, Sgt. Andrew Joseph Baddick never thought twice before rushing to help someone. “He feared nothing,” Elizabeth Hoherchak said. “Nothing. There was no hesitation in him.” Baddick, 26, of Jim Thorpe, Pa., drowned Sept. 29 when he tried to rescue another soldier whose vehicle had plunged into a canal in Iraq. He was stationed at Fort Bragg. Baddick had been serving in Afghanistan before going to Iraq, said Charles McHugh, a family friend. “I knew the boy all his life; I watched him grow up,” McHugh said. “All he wanted to do was be in the Army and be a paratrooper, and he succeeded.” Paratrooper from Pa. killed in Iraq Associated Press A paratrooper stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., drowned while trying to save another soldier in Iraq, the Defense Department said Wednesday, and a Veterans Affairs official said he was from Pennsylvania. Sgt. Andrew J. Baddick, 26, died Monday, according to both a Pentagon news release and Charles McHugh, director of the Carbon County, Pa., Veterans Affairs Office. According to the Pentagon, Baddick was trying to rescue another soldier whose vehicle had entered a canal near Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq when he drowned. Military authorities did not say where Baddick was from, but McHugh said Baddick was from Jim Thorpe. McHugh, a friend of the family, said the military had informed Baddick’s mother, Ann, of his death. “I knew the boy all his life; I watched him grow up,” McHugh said. “All he wanted to do was be in the Army and be a paratrooper, and he succeeded.” McHugh said Baddick, a paratrooper with Headquarters Company, 82nd Airborne Division, had been stationed in Afghanistan before coming to Iraq one or two months ago. Baddick, a 1997 graduate of Jim Thorpe Area Senior High School, enlisted in the Army in 1999 and re-enlisted for another six years in 2001, McHugh said. Andrew Joseph Baddick Sergeant, United States Army No. 723-03 IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oct 01, 2003 (703)697-5131(media) (703)428-0711(public/industry) DOD Identifies Army Casualties The Department of Defense announced today that the deaths of Sergeant Andrew Joseph Baddick, 26, and Private First Class Kristian E. Parker, 23. Baddick drowned September 29, 2003, as he tried to rescue another soldier whose vehicle had entered a canal near Abu Ghraib Prison, Iraq. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The incident is under investigation. Parker died on Sept. 29 of non-combat related injuries at Camp AS Sayliyah, Qatar. She was assigned to the 205th Engineer Battalion, U.S. Army National Guard, Slidell, Louisiana. The incident is under investigation. No. 723-03 IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oct 01, 2003 (703)697-5131(media) (703)428-0711(public/industry) DoD Identifies Army Casualties Note: This is a corrected copy of News release 723-03 dated Oct. 1, 2003. The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sergeant Andrew Joseph Baddick, 26, of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, drowned September 29, 2003, as he tried to rescue another soldier whose vehicle had entered a canal near Abu Ghraib Prison, Iraq. Baddick was assigned to 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Private First Class Kristian E. Parker, 23, of Slidell, Louisiana, died on September 29, 2003, at Camp AS Sayliyah, Qatar. Parker died from noncombat related injuries. Parker was assigned to the 205th Engineer Battalion, Army National Guard, Slidell, Louisiana. These incidents are under investigation. December 10, 2003 2 Carbon heroes honored by state Soldier's mother still seeks closure without having seen body. HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - Grief has cut hard into the heart of Ann Baddick, who mourns the death of her son, Sergeant Andrew J. Baddick of Jim Thorpe, on September 29, 2003, while he was trying to rescue a soldier in Iraq whose vehicle had plunged into a canal. Baddick's anguish over not seeing her son's body before burial overshadowed a visit Tuesday to Harrisburg, where state lawmakers honored A.J., as he was called, with a standing ovation. Also honored was Brian Firkal of Nesquehoning, who died trying to save a boy from drowning in Ocean City, Maryland, two days before Andrew Baddick was killed. Baddick, 26, was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on October 14, 2003. Without telling her why, Ann Baddick said, the Army refused to let her view her son's body. The Army even denied her plea to look one last time at the tattoo of an iguana on his shoulder, its tail wrapped around his upper left arm. He got the iguana tattoo on the sly, his mother said with a sad smile, because she wouldn't let him keep one. ''I have no closure, no peace of mind,'' she said. ''Even if they don't let me see his face, if they would have just let me look at the tattoo on his arm.'' Army spokeswoman Shari Lawrence said she could not comment on the Baddick case but said it's rare for a family to be denied one last look at a loved one. ''It takes a lot for us to say to the family, 'We don't recommend you do this,''' she said. ''It is very, very rare that we are going to say that to a family.'' A casualty assistance officer may be able to resolve the issue, she said. The officer works with the family until the family decides the help isn't needed. Lawrence said ''a lot of families need to view the remains for closure,'' but the bodies sometimes are not viewable. In that case, the Army tries to have someone other than family members take a look. The only reason a soldier's casket would never be opened is if the body inside has been chemically contaminated or harbors a contagion, Lawrence said. On Tuesday, Baddick — with John Adams, her partner of 20 years, beside her — poured out her anguish to state Representative Keith McCall, DCarbon. The couple plan to marry the day before Christmas. McCall told Baddick he was appalled she could not see her son's body and that he would do whatever he could to find out what happened. The family, including Andrew Baddick's father, Joseph, and his wife, Sheila, was in the capital to attend the passage of resolutions honoring Baddick and Firkal. The Legislature passed both resolutions, standing and applauding after each was voted upon. ''Show me a hero, and I'll show you a tragedy,'' McCall told the legislators, quoting from author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Baddick, the Army says, hit his head and drowned as he tried to rescue a soldier whose vehicle went into a canal near Abu Ghraib Prison during a mortar attack. The soldier in the vehicle also died. Officials said Baddick, an avid swimmer, plunged into the canal to try to rescue the man. And when it became clear the man had drowned, Baddick dove again to try to recover the man's body. That's when he hit his head and drowned, authorities said. Baddick's mother said she has yet to receive his dog tags and other effects. Baddick graduated from jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia, in February 2001, served in Afghanistan and had recently re-enlisted. He arrived in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, about a month before he died. ''Sergeant Baddick was awarded the Bronze Star,'' McCall said on the House floor. ''No combat ribbon, no medal for bravery, nor, frankly, the recognition of the House, could ever replace his family's love for Sergeant Baddick.'' Firkal, 27, died while trying to rescue a boy who had become caught in a riptide. Firkal, a volunteer firefighter, was buried with a firefighter's honors, his casket carried to St. Michael's Cemetery in Summit Hill atop a fire truck. ''Brian's death highlights the true spirit of helping others,'' McCall said. Jane Firkal said she is coping with her grief with the help of her late husband's and her own family. ''I just take it one day at a time,'' she said. Jim Thorpe sergeant drowns in Iraqi canal 26-year-old soldier dived in to help comrade, officials say. An Army sergeant from Jim Thorpe who wanted to be a career military man has died in Iraq, his family and the Carbon County's Veterans Affairs director confirmed Wednesday. U.S. Department of Defense officials confirmed that Andrew J. Baddick, 26, drowned Monday as he tried to rescue another soldier whose vehicle plunged into a canal near Abu Ghraib Prison, Iraq. County Veteran Affairs Director Charles McHugh said an Army chaplain and a staff sergeant visited the family Tuesday night and informed them of Baddick's death. Baddick's ex-wife, Jami Sydensticker, said the family was told he dived into water to try to save another soldier, hit his head and drowned. Baddick was an expert swimmer who worked as a guide for white-water trips on the Lehigh River. Sydensticker said it would be like Baddick to try to save another person. ''If he saw somebody in trouble, he would try to help, especially if it was one of his people,'' she said. Baddick, a 1997 Jim Thorpe Area High School graduate, had been in Iraq only about a month. In 2002, he worked with computers tracking troops from Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. McHugh said Baddick, who visited him during leaves from the service, wanted to make a career of the military. ''All he wanted to do was be in the Army and be a paratrooper,'' McHugh said. Baddick joined the Army in 1999 and completed basic training at Fort Hood, Texas, then graduated from jump school at Fort Benning in Georgia in February 2001. He was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, N.C. Last year he re-enlisted for six years. Sydensticker, who was married to Baddick for a year and lives near Pittsburgh, said she last saw him in January. She described him as a helpful person who liked kayaking, hunting and taking their two dogs to the park. ''He liked being in the military for the most part, but it is definitely not a place to have a relationship,'' she said. ''It takes two strong people. That's the only thing he hated about it.'' Flags at the Carbon County courthouse, Jim Thorpe schools and the community's Veterans of Foreign Wars post flew at half-staff Wednesday. McHugh, who watched Baddick grow up, was upset by the death. ''When you lose one in your hometown, your home county, it's tough to take,'' he said. Word of Baddick's death spread quickly through the Jim Thorpe area, where he worked as a guide for Jim Thorpe River Adventures during high school and after graduation. Owner Dave Kuhn said he met Baddick when he was 12 years old and took his first trip on the Lehigh River. Two years later, Kuhn said, Baddick was a proficient kayaker. Kuhn said Baddick, who called him ''Uncle Dave,'' worked on and off for him for 13 years. He said he had an easygoing personality and was wellliked by customers whom he guided down the river. Kuhn said he last saw Baddick when he was on leave in the spring when he visited him and paddled a kayak on the river. At the family home on Front Street, a picture of Baddick in his Army desert camouflage hung on the front window near a sign urging people to pray for U.S. troops. Chris Gehres of Jim Thorpe, who knew Baddick from childhood, said the military instilled more discipline and focus in Baddick. ''He certainly was a changed man,'' Gehres said. Ron Sheehan, who serves as county treasurer and director of the Asa Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe, said Baddick's mother, Ann, had worked at the mansion. Baddick's mother was a proud military mom. She helped organize a support-the-troops rally held in Jim Thorpe in April and was part of a group of parents who shipped care packages to soldiers. She also volunteered to help with Jim Thorpe's annual July 4 fireworks display after her son told her he would be disappointed if the event was canceled. The event was in doubt because of a lack of volunteers for the festival. Friday, October 10, 2003 By Rob Stewart Carbon County Soldier Honored The sound of bagpipes filed the air in Jim Thorpe Friday as a horse drawn carriage carried a soldier through his hometown. Army Sergeant Andrew Baddick drowned last week in Iraq while trying to rescue another soldier whose vehicle fell into a canal. At St. Joseph's Church in Jim Thorpe it was a sad farewell for a hometown hero. The bagpipes and bells offered a ringing tribute for Sergeant Baddick. A horse drawn caisson carried away a devoted son and soldier. "It's a sad, sad situation. He tried to save the life of another person and lost his own," said Anna Sweden of Jim Thorpe. Friends said that was the beauty of the soldier they called A. J., always putting others before himself in the way he lived and died. "It was him, it was what he was and I can accept what happened because of that," said friend Sean O'Neill. He was one of dozens of firefighters to honor Sgt. Baddick, a volunteer firefighter himself. "He's a brother. We all honor our brothers. He was a good friend of mine from kayaking. I knew him well, so we honor our own," added O'Neill. Sergeant Baddick's friends said his passion was kayaking. His wet suit sat empty inside the church, surrounded by pictures of happier times. Flanked by those who are called to serve, Baddick received the honor of both a military and a firefighter's funeral. Sergeant Baddick will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. October 8, 2003 Father mourns fallen soldier Son's burial request is honored On September 30, 2003, Joseph M. Baddick received the phone call that every parent dreads: his son was dead. Sergeant Andrew J. "A. J." Baddick, a Jim Thorpe, Carbon County, native stationed in Iraq with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, had died the night before while trying to save the life of a fellow serviceman. Last Friday, Joseph Baddick opened his mailbox and found a letter from his late son, written shortly before his death. "When I first saw the letter, I cried," said Baddick, 51, who lives in Centre Township in Berks County with his wife, Sheila, A. J.'s stepmother. "But when I opened it, and read it, I smiled." In the letter, his son had talked a bit about his two-month tour of duty in Iraq, and recounted his part in a mission in which six Iraqi prisoners had been captured. But the last few sentences were particularly poignant to Joseph Baddick. His son ended his letter by reminding his father of a conversation that they had a few months earlier, when A. J. was home on leave. "He wanted to remind me about what he had told me when I last saw him, that if anything happened to him, he wanted to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery," Baddick said. Many years before, when Andrew was just a boy, Joseph had taken him and his older sister, Elizabeth, who now lives in Jim Thorpe, to visit Arlington National Cemetery. The memory of that visit made a lasting impression on young Andrew, and in the end, it had become part of his private last will and testament: to take his place of honor among them in death. "It meant so much to him, to have the right to be buried there among so many honorable men, these fallen warriors. He wanted to be a part of that," Joseph Baddick said. Andrew Baddick grew up in Jim Thorpe, where he lived with his mother, Ann Baddick, until graduating from Jim Thorpe Area High School in 1997. He then worked as a river guide for Jim Thorpe River Adventures, a river rafting company on the Lehigh River, but found his true calling when he enlisted in the Army in 1999. He completed basic training in Fort Hood, Texas, then went onto jump school in Fort Benning, Georgia, graduating in 2001. He decided to re-enlist for six more years, and, like his father before him, become a member of the 82nd Airborne. Joseph Baddick had served in the 82nd Airborne from 1970 to 1973. For six months, Andrew Baddick served at the 82nd Airborne headquarters in Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2002, he was awarded the Army Commendation medal for Meritorious Service, and in 2003 the Army Achievement Medal. For many years, Andrew Baddick had also been a volunteer firefighter and ambulance volunteer in Jim Thorpe, so the fact that he died while trying to save another person's life doesn't surprise those who knew him, his father said. "It doesn't surprise me that he died being a hero," Joseph Baddick said. "I'm sure he didn't even think about it. I'm sure that he'd dive right in to save someone's life. My son would do that." In the days following his son's death, Joseph Baddick heard different accounts of what transpired that fateful night, but later talked to an eyewitness, who was there when his son perished. Andrew Baddick was one of several soldiers traveling in a four-vehicle convoy that was responding to a mortar attack near Abu Ghraib prison on the west side of Baghdad, around 10:45 p.m. The Humvee in front of them, carrying three military police officers from the 800th Military Police Brigade, suddenly swerved to avoid an obstacle in the road, and plunged into a nearby canal. Andrew, being an experienced swimmer and kayaker, instinctively responded to a call for help, his father said. "He had no fear of the water - he was an experienced swimmer and knew how to handle himself in raging water," Joseph Baddick said. "He jumped right in to rescue the driver for the Humvee, who was trapped." But the turbulent water must have suddenly whirled the submerged vehicle around, striking A. J. in the head. "They think he lost consciousness at that point, and drowned," Joseph Baddick said. The trapped driver, Sergeant Darrin K. Potter, 24, of Louisville, Ky., also drowned, but the other two solders in the vehicle managed to escape. Baddick, though heartbroken over his only son's death, said he harbors no bitterness. "My feeling is that I believe fully in what President Bush is doing. We watch the news every night and hear that more soldiers are killed, but if it's not somebody you know, you're not close to it. It doesn't really hit home," he said. "But that's the price we have to pay for freedom," Baddick added. "It gives me some comfort knowing that my son died being a hero." Carbon soldier who died in Iraq mourned Sergeant Andrew J. Baddick spent his last hours trying to find a comrade's body. Sergeant Andrew J. Baddick spent hours Sunday night in the waters of a canal near Iraq's Abu Ghraib Prison, desperately trying to find, then retrieve, the body of a comrade whose Humvee had crashed into the channel. Baddick, 26, of Jim Thorpe, was among divers sent to the site after the vehicle carrying three U.S. military police crashed into the water. Two escaped the wreck, but Sergeant Darrin K. Potter, 24, of Louisville, Kentucky, did not. ''They spent five hours looking for the missing man, and recovered his body at about 2:30 a.m.,'' Charles McHugh, a Baddick family friend and the Carbon County Veterans Affairs director, said Thursday. ''One of the divers failed to surface, and that was our hero, A. J.'' While in the water, Baddick — who had been in Iraq about a month — hit his head and drowned. McHugh and Department of Defense officials gave that account as Jim Thorpe mourned the first Carbon County soldier killed in Iraq. Those who knew Baddick said they were stunned at the manner of his death, because he grew up swimming, rafting and kayaking the Lehigh River, and had worked as a guide for white-water trips on the Lehigh. ''We're shocked and dismayed he drowned,'' Baddick's aunt, Patti Wrzeszewski, said at a news conference. ''He was an unbelievable swimmer.'' Wrzeszewski spoke on behalf of Baddick's family, who she said are distraught. The family is waiting for the Army to deliver Baddick's body home for services in Jim Thorpe and burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Wrzeszewski said Baddick, who was engaged to be married in the spring, had joined the Army, just as his father did, and joined the 82nd Airborne Division, where he was a paratrooper. ''His father was in the 82nd as well,'' Wrzeszewski said. ''His father didn't make it a career, but A. J. wanted to.'' And like his father, Baddick was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. ''He was always my hero,'' Wrzeszewski said. ''Now everyone knows he was a hero.'' Wrzeszewski and others remembered Baddick — who served in Afghanistan last year, then re-enlisted for six years — as a dedicated military man who always wanted to help others. Carbon County Commissioner Charles Getz, who once owned a whitewater rafting company, said Baddick worked a few times for him as a guide. ''He was a nice young man,'' Getz said. Baddick's death was the second in less than two days for heroes in Carbon County. As Jim Thorpe mourned Baddick on Thursday, a few miles away, Brian Firkal, a 27-year-old teacher and volunteer firefighter from Nesquehoning, was buried with the full honors of a firefighter killed in the line of duty. Firkal, on vacation Saturday in Maryland, drowned trying to rescue a boy struggling in the surf off Ocean City. Firefighters from many departments attended services for Firkal in dress uniforms, and his casket was carried to St. Michael's Cemetery in Lansford atop a fire truck. County commissioners observed a moment of silence Thursday morning for Baddick and Firkal, who grew up in small towns a few miles apart and had joined local fire companies when they were teenagers. Both were said to have been driven by a desire to help others. Firkal became a printer and later a graphic arts teacher at Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, while Baddick pursued a career in the military. At the county commissioners meeting, McHugh, the county veterans affairs official, read a poem and prayer in memory of them. ''We lost two of the best of the best,'' McHugh said. Honoring Their Hometown Hero Pa. Paratrooper Recalled for Putting Himself in Harm's Way for His Buddies By Lila Arzua Courtesy of The Washington Post Wednesday, October 15, 2003 A bus provided by two local banks wasn't enough to bring all the residents of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, who wanted to attend the funeral of Army Sergeant Andrew Joseph Baddick at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday. So a friend of the fallen soldier donated another one to bring dozens more wanting to pay final respects to their hometown hero. "A.J.," as he was known to all, had been in Iraq just a few weeks when he died trying to rescue another soldier whose vehicle had toppled into a canal west of Baghdad. A paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, he was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star. Though shocked by his death, those who knew Baddick were not surprised that the 26-year-old gave his life trying to save a comrade. According to the Army, a four-vehicle convoy was responding to reports of a mortar attack outside Baghdad on September 29 when one of the vehicles plunged into the canal. Baddick dived in to help, but he didn't surface. One of the three soldiers in the vehicle, Sergeant Darrin K. Potter, 24, of Louisville, also drowned. "He was trying to save his buddy when he died. He always put himself in harm's way for somebody else," said Pat Gillespie, 30, an Army airborne specialist who grew up with Baddick in Jim Thorpe, near Allentown in eastern Pennsylvania. "He seemed to make friends with anybody." Near Baddick's grave site yesterday, a seven-member rifle party fired into the drizzly afternoon mist. Family members clutched red roses and other flowers, which they gently placed on the long gray casket. Nearby was a box brought from home that held a tiny teddy bear and other tokens of Baddick's childhood. As the service ended, General Richard Rowe, assistant division commander with the 82nd Airborne, handed American flags to the soldier's parents, Ann and Joe Baddick. A funeral Mass for their son was held Friday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Jim Thorpe. The newly dug grave was flanked by those of others who, like Baddick, had died in Iraq and one who had died in Afghanistan. Baddick had served there before being sent to Iraq in early September. Since he was a child, friends recalled, he had wanted to be a paratrooper like his father. "It's all he ever talked about," said John Adams, who helped Ann Baddick raise her son. Neighbors remember the youngster being a hilarious handful; one had even appropriated the nickname "Dennis the Menace" for the blondish mischief-maker. "He was everywhere," recalled Regina Scherer, 35, whose family had shared a duplex with the Baddicks. "Once, he just popped his head in through the dining room window." As a teen, Baddick helped out on rafting excursions on the Lehigh River and then worked as a river guide for several years after high school. More than six feet tall and an avid kayaker and swimmer, he was described by friends as having a "lean-and-mean" build. He also worked with the volunteer fire squad in town. "He was always willing to help," said Frank Lauth, captain of the Jim Thorpe Fire Department. "That kid, he doesn't go halfway." Army Staff Sergeant Gary Leleux roomed with Baddick at Fort Hood in Texas and preceded him to Afghanistan. When Baddick's division was among those that came to relieve his own, Leleux was gathering his gear to leave when he heard a voice behind him. " 'Hey, put that down!' " Leleux remembered Baddick calling. "Man, what's up?" Out of the thousands of soldiers, Baddick had tracked down his buddy for a quick hello. "The last thing you're expecting is for an old friend to show up," Leleux said. It was to be the last time they would see each other. Yesterday, Jim Thorpe firefighters put black ribbons over their badges, Lehigh river guides put their hands over their hearts and, with Baddick's parents, his sister and his fiancee, they mourned a beloved son and comrade. Fate joins two soldiers: 8 November 2003 Sergeant Andrew J. Baddick died more than a month ago while attempting to save another soldier whose vehicle had plunged into an Iraqi drainage canal. Three men were saved that day. Sergeant Baddick died in a heroic effort to save a fourth soldier who didn't make it. Who was the man that a 26-year-old Jim Thorpe soldier sacrificed his life to try and save? The Baddick family found out recently, when they received a letter from the officer who was in charge of the deceased while he was stationed in the U.S. The letter said: "From the men and women of the Kentucky National Guard, please accept our deepest condolences for the loss of your son Andrew. At a time like this I realize there is little I can say to lessen your sense of sorrow and loss; however, I would like to express my personal gratitude for the efforts made by your son to save the life of one of my soldiers, Sergeant Darrin K. Potter, age 24. I had the privilege of knowing Sergeant Potter and would like you to know that he was an exceptionally fine young man. Sergeant Potter was a member of the 223rd Military Police Company, Kentucky Army National Guard. His squad was engaged in joint patrolling with your son's unit in an attempt to locate and disrupt an enemy mortar crew that had previously attacked American soldiers, causing loss of life as well as injuries. Although this is not an official report, based on my conversations with members of Sergeant Potter's unit, it appears that the patrol was moving toward the enemy locations when his vehicle failed to negotiate a sharp turn at the top of a steep bank and went into a deep and swiftly moving drainage canal. Your son's unit immediately came to their aid, assisting two soldiers to shore and, when it became apparent that a third soldier would not be able to make it, your son unhesitatingly went into the water after him and saved his life. After successfully locating that soldier and helping him to shore, your son reported that there was someone else down there, presumably Sergeant Potter, and went back in after him; neither of them surfaced after that point and their bodies were recovered sometime later. In discussion with Major General Swannack, Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division, I learned that your son was an exceptionally wellregarded young man who had already contributed much and had great future potential. Clearly, he exemplified the truth that no greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother. Please accept our deepest sympathies for his loss. D. Allen Youngman Major General, Kentucky National Guard The Adjutant General Remembering A. J. President Bush offers comfort to Baddick family, vows resolve By DONALD R. SERFASS Courtesy of Times News On Line 30 August 2005 Tamaqua native Joe Baddick, a zone lieutenant at SCI Mahanoy, points to family members who joined him on a recent trip to North Carolina to visit with President Bush. For Tamaqua native Joe Baddick, the price of war isn't measured in dollars and cents. It's measured in memories and tears. Baddick's only son, Sergeant Andrew. J. 'A. J." Baddick, 26, a 1997 graduate of Jim Thorpe Area H. S., drowned in Iraq on October 1, 2003, while taking heroic measures to save a life. On that night, A. J., an outstanding swimmer, dove into a swift-moving canal and helped to rescue one soldier. But while trying to rescue a second soldier trapped in a Humvee, Baddick lost his life. On June 28, family members were invited to meet President George Bush at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, prior to Bush's televised address to the nation. Joe and wife, Sheila, of Mohrsville, were joined by A. J.'s mother, Ann Baddick of Jim Thorpe, and A. J.'s sister, Elizabeth, along with her husband Terry Hoherchak, a Lehighton native, and the couple's daughter, Andi Rose, 2. Baddick said meeting the president was not only a pleasure, but therapeutic. The commander in chief put everyone at ease from the moment he entered the room. "There was no formality," said Baddick. "He had two Secret Service men with him and a White House photographer. He came in and said 'It's really me,' and that broke the ice." Baddick was impressed by Bush's sincerity, saying that the president became teary-eyed during the course of the conversation. Baddick encouraged the president to push forward with the mission. "I told him 'please don't drop the ball – or the lives of my son and the others would've been for nothing.'" Baddick said Bush looked him directly in the eye and explained that his message would be loud and clear. "You listen to my speech tonight and you'll know where I stand," offered the president. In that speech, Bush promised that America would do what was necessary to make Iraq a free country. Bush handed each family member a special memento - a brass 'challenge coin' featuring a colorful, enamel image of the Presidential Seal. Family members estimate that Bush spent about 10 minutes chatting. Baddick lauds the demeanor of the most powerful man in the world. "This man is on a mission. He's the genuine article. He wants to bring peace to the Middle East." The president also visited with 30 other families, all of whom had lost a loved one in the war. Baddick had a chance to talk with many of those individuals prior to meeting the president. For the most part, he said, the majority seem to support their leader. A. J. was a member of the U. S. Army 82nd Airborne Division 504 Parachute Infantry Regiment. He had asked to be attached to that unit for a special reason. "He wanted to be just like Dad so he requested it when he re-enlisted," recalls his father while speaking from his job post as zone lieutenant for the State Correctional Institution at Mahanoy. Joe served in the same unit following his graduation from Marian High School in 1970. Baddick said A. J. spent six months in Afghanistan prior to the assignment in Iraq. A. J. understood the dangers, as do others who enlist in the military, he said. A. J. was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star for heroism and a Soldier's Medal for saving another soldier's life. Baddick is proud of A. J.'s courage and contributions, and for his acts of bravery in the face of danger. It'll always remain a bright spot in his life. For sure, the past three years have been a particularly difficult time. He lost his father in 2002, then A. J. in 2003, and his mother, Rose, passed away in 2004. While driving home from the meeting with Bush, Baddick stopped at Arlington National Cemetery to visit his son's grave. There, he noticed a military funeral taking place nearby. The sight tugged at his heart. Another young soldier had died. Putting his own sorrow aside, Baddick walked over and helped comfort the grieving parents - total strangers sharing a painful bond. Ann Baddick, left, the mother of Army Sgt. Andrew Joseph Baddick, who died in Iraq, clutches the flag from her son's coffin during memorial services yesterday at Arlington Cemetery. Seated next to her are Sgt. Baddick's sister, Elizabeth Hohorchak, his grandmother, Rose Baddick, and his father, Joe Baddick. (Photo Courtesy of The Washington Post, By Susan Biddle -- The Washington PostUsed By Special Permission) Courtesy of Barbara McGlynn, Valentines's Day February 2006 BADDICK, ANDREW JOSEPH SGT US ARMY IRAQ DATE OF BIRTH: 06/30/1977 DATE OF DEATH: 09/30/2003 BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7890 ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY Webmaster: Michael Robert Patterson Posted: 11 October 2003 - Updated: 15 October 2003 Updated: 9 November 2003 Updated: 3 May 2004 Updated: 30 August 2005 Updated: 11 February 2006 Updated: 26 October 2006 Updated: 30 September 2007 Updated: 12 May 2008 Andrew Joseph Baddick Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania Age Military 26 Army Rank Unit/Location Sgt 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division Fort Bragg, North Carolina Drowned Sept. 29 as he tried to rescue another soldier whose vehicle had entered a canal near Abu Ghraib Prison, Iraq. September 29, 2003 A.J. was posthumously awarded: The Soldiers Medal for Heroism A.J. could always been found kayaking on the Lehigh River (Jim Thorpe, PA) or any whitewater river. He loved the river. A.J. is buried at Arlington National Cemetery VA Friday, October 10, 2003 By Rob Stewart Carbon County Soldier Honored The sound of bagpipes filed the air in Jim Thorpe Friday as a horse drawn carriage carried a soldier through his hometown. Army Sergeant Andrew Baddick drowned last week in Iraq while trying to rescue another soldier whose vehicle fell into a canal. At St. Joseph's Church in Jim Thorpe it was a sad farewell for a hometown hero. The bagpipes and bells offered a ringing tribute for Sergeant Baddick. A horse drawn caisson carried away a devoted son and soldier. "It's a sad, sad situation. He tried to save the life of another person and lost his own," said Anna Sweden of Jim Thorpe. Friends said that was the beauty of the soldier they called A. J., always putting others before himself in the way he lived and died. "It was him, it was what he was and I can accept what happened because of that," said friend Sean O'Neill. He was one of dozens of firefighters to honor Sgt. Baddick, a volunteer firefighter himself. "He's a brother. We all honor our brothers. He was a good friend of mine from kayaking. I knew him well, so we honor our own," added O'Neill. Sergeant Baddick's friends said his passion was kayaking. His wet suit sat empty inside the church, surrounded by pictures of happier times. Flanked by those who are called to serve, Baddick received the honor of both a military and a firefighter's funeral. Sergeant Baddick will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. October 8, 2003 Father mourns fallen soldier Son's burial request is honored On September 30, 2003, Joseph M. Baddick received the phone call that every parent dreads: his son was dead. Sergeant Andrew J. "A. J." Baddick, a Jim Thorpe, Carbon County, native stationed in Iraq with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, had died the night before while trying to save the life of a fellow serviceman. Last Friday, Joseph Baddick opened his mailbox and found a letter from his late son, written shortly before his death. "When I first saw the letter, I cried," said Baddick, 51, who lives in Centre Township in Berks County with his wife, Sheila, A. J.'s stepmother. "But when I opened it, and read it, I smiled." In the letter, his son had talked a bit about his two-month tour of duty in Iraq, and recounted his part in a mission in which six Iraqi prisoners had been captured. But the last few sentences were particularly poignant to Joseph Baddick. His son ended his letter by reminding his father of a conversation that they had a few months earlier, when A. J. was home on leave. "He wanted to remind me about what he had told me when I last saw him, that if anything happened to him, he wanted to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery," Baddick said. Many years before, when Andrew was just a boy, Joseph had taken him and his older sister, Elizabeth, who now lives in Jim Thorpe, to visit Arlington National Cemetery. The memory of that visit made a lasting impression on young Andrew, and in the end, it had become part of his private last will and testament: to take his place of honor among them in death. "It meant so much to him, to have the right to be buried there among so many honorable men, these fallen warriors. He wanted to be a part of that," Joseph Baddick said. Andrew Baddick grew up in Jim Thorpe, where he lived with his mother, Ann Baddick, until graduating from Jim Thorpe Area High School in 1997. He then worked as a river guide for Jim Thorpe River Adventures, a river rafting company on the Lehigh River, but found his true calling when he enlisted in the Army in 1999. He completed basic training in Fort Hood, Texas, then went onto jump school in Fort Benning, Georgia, graduating in 2001. He decided to re-enlist for six more years, and, like his father before him, become a member of the 82nd Airborne. Joseph Baddick had served in the 82nd Airborne from 1970 to 1973. For six months, Andrew Baddick served at the 82nd Airborne headquarters in Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2002, he was awarded the Army Commendation medal for Meritorious Service, and in 2003 the Army Achievement Medal. For many years, Andrew Baddick had also been a volunteer firefighter and ambulance volunteer in Jim Thorpe, so the fact that he died while trying to save another person's life doesn't surprise those who knew him, his father said. "It doesn't surprise me that he died being a hero," Joseph Baddick said. "I'm sure he didn't even think about it. I'm sure that he'd dive right in to save someone's life. My son would do that." In the days following his son's death, Joseph Baddick heard different accounts of what transpired that fateful night, but later talked to an eyewitness, who was there when his son perished. Andrew Baddick was one of several soldiers traveling in a four-vehicle convoy that was responding to a mortar attack near Abu Ghraib prison on the west side of Baghdad, around 10:45 p.m. The Humvee in front of them, carrying three military police officers from the 800th Military Police Brigade, suddenly swerved to avoid an obstacle in the road, and plunged into a nearby canal. Andrew, being an experienced swimmer and kayaker, instinctively responded to a call for help, his father said. "He had no fear of the water - he was an experienced swimmer and knew how to handle himself in raging water," Joseph Baddick said. "He jumped right in to rescue the driver for the Humvee, who was trapped." But the turbulent water must have suddenly whirled the submerged vehicle around, striking A. J. in the head. "They think he lost consciousness at that point, and drowned," Joseph Baddick said. The trapped driver, Sergeant Darrin K. Potter, 24, of Louisville, Ky., also drowned, but the other two solders in the vehicle managed to escape. Baddick, though heartbroken over his only son's death, said he harbors no bitterness. "My feeling is that I believe fully in what President Bush is doing. We watch the news every night and hear that more soldiers are killed, but if it's not somebody you know, you're not close to it. It doesn't really hit home," he said. "But that's the price we have to pay for freedom," Baddick added. "It gives me some comfort knowing that my son died being a hero." Fate joins two soldiers: 8 November 2003 Sergeant Andrew J. Baddick died more than a month ago while attempting to save another soldier whose vehicle had plunged into an Iraqi drainage canal. Three men were saved that day. Sergeant Baddick died in a heroic effort to save a fourth soldier who didn't make it. Who was the man that a 26-year-old Jim Thorpe soldier sacrificed his life to try and save? The Baddick family found out recently, when they received a letter from the officer who was in charge of the deceased while he was stationed in the U.S. The letter said: "From the men and women of the Kentucky National Guard, please accept our deepest condolences for the loss of your son Andrew. At a time like this I realize there is little I can say to lessen your sense of sorrow and loss; however, I would like to express my personal gratitude for the efforts made by your son to save the life of one of my soldiers, Sergeant Darrin K. Potter, age 24. I had the privilege of knowing Sergeant Potter and would like you to know that he was an exceptionally fine young man. Sergeant Potter was a member of the 223rd Military Police Company, Kentucky Army National Guard. His squad was engaged in joint patrolling with your son's unit in an attempt to locate and disrupt an enemy mortar crew that had previously attacked American soldiers, causing loss of life as well as injuries. Although this is not an official report, based on my conversations with members of Sergeant Potter's unit, it appears that the patrol was moving toward the enemy locations when his vehicle failed to negotiate a sharp turn at the top of a steep bank and went into a deep and swiftly moving drainage canal. Your son's unit immediately came to their aid, assisting two soldiers to shore and, when it became apparent that a third soldier would not be able to make it, your son unhesitatingly went into the water after him and saved his life. After successfully locating that soldier and helping him to shore, your son reported that there was someone else down there, presumably Sergeant Potter, and went back in after him; neither of them surfaced after that point and their bodies were recovered sometime later. In discussion with Major General Swannack, Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division, I learned that your son was an exceptionally wellregarded young man who had already contributed much and had great future potential. Clearly, he exemplified the truth that no greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother. Please accept our deepest sympathies for his loss. D. Allen Youngman Major General, Kentucky National Guard The Adjutant General December 10, 2003 2 Carbon heroes honored by state Soldier's mother still seeks closure without having seen body. HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - Grief has cut hard into the heart of Ann Baddick, who mourns the death of her son, Sergeant Andrew J. Baddick of Jim Thorpe, on September 29, 2003, while he was trying to rescue a soldier in Iraq whose vehicle had plunged into a canal. Baddick's anguish over not seeing her son's body before burial overshadowed a visit Tuesday to Harrisburg, where state lawmakers honored A.J., as he was called, with a standing ovation. Also honored was Brian Firkal of Nesquehoning, who died trying to save a boy from drowning in Ocean City, Maryland, two days before Andrew Baddick was killed. Baddick, 26, was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on October 14, 2003. Without telling her why, Ann Baddick said, the Army refused to let her view her son's body. The Army even denied her plea to look one last time at the tattoo of an iguana on his shoulder, its tail wrapped around his upper left arm. He got the iguana tattoo on the sly, his mother said with a sad smile, because she wouldn't let him keep one. ''I have no closure, no peace of mind,'' she said. ''Even if they don't let me see his face, if they would have just let me look at the tattoo on his arm.'' Army spokeswoman Shari Lawrence said she could not comment on the Baddick case but said it's rare for a family to be denied one last look at a loved one. ''It takes a lot for us to say to the family, 'We don't recommend you do this,''' she said. ''It is very, very rare that we are going to say that to a family.'' A casualty assistance officer may be able to resolve the issue, she said. The officer works with the family until the family decides the help isn't needed. Lawrence said ''a lot of families need to view the remains for closure,'' but the bodies sometimes are not viewable. In that case, the Army tries to have someone other than family members take a look. The only reason a soldier's casket would never be opened is if the body inside has been chemically contaminated or harbors a contagion, Lawrence said. On Tuesday, Baddick — with John Adams, her partner of 20 years, beside her — poured out her anguish to state Representative Keith McCall, DCarbon. The couple plan to marry the day before Christmas. McCall told Baddick he was appalled she could not see her son's body and that he would do whatever he could to find out what happened. The family, including Andrew Baddick's father, Joseph, and his wife, Sheila, was in the capital to attend the passage of resolutions honoring Baddick and Firkal. The Legislature passed both resolutions, standing and applauding after each was voted upon. ''Show me a hero, and I'll show you a tragedy,'' McCall told the legislators, quoting from author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Baddick, the Army says, hit his head and drowned as he tried to rescue a soldier whose vehicle went into a canal near Abu Ghraib Prison during a mortar attack. The soldier in the vehicle also died. Officials said Baddick, an avid swimmer, plunged into the canal to try to rescue the man. And when it became clear the man had drowned, Baddick dove again to try to recover the man's body. That's when he hit his head and drowned, authorities said. Baddick's mother said she has yet to receive his dog tags and other effects. Baddick graduated from jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia, in February 2001, served in Afghanistan and had recently re-enlisted. He arrived in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, about a month before he died. ''Sergeant Baddick was awarded the Bronze Star,'' McCall said on the House floor. ''No combat ribbon, no medal for bravery, nor, frankly, the recognition of the House, could ever replace his family's love for Sergeant Baddick.'' Firkal, 27, died while trying to rescue a boy who had become caught in a riptide. Firkal, a volunteer firefighter, was buried with a firefighter's honors, his casket carried to St. Michael's Cemetery in Summit Hill atop a fire truck. ''Brian's death highlights the true spirit of helping others,'' McCall said. Jane Firkal said she is coping with her grief with the help of her late husband's and her own family. ''I just take it one day at a time,'' she said. 1st Lt. David R. Bernstein Hometown: Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, U.S. Age: 24 years old Died: October 18, 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unit: Army, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 508th Infantry Regiment, 173rd Infantry Brigade, Southern European Task Force, Vicenza, Italy Incident: Killed when enemy forces ambushed his patrol with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire in Taza. Valedictorian at his suburban Philadelphia high school and fifth in his class at the U.S. Military Academy, 1st Lt. David R. Bernstein had the intelligence and ambition to do anything he wanted. "What he wanted was to do something for his country," said his father, Richard Bernstein. Bernstein, 24, assigned to the 173rd Infantry Brigade based in Italy, was killed Oct. 18 when his patrol came under fire 160 miles north of Baghdad. Bernstein, who grew up in Austin, Texas, and moved to Phoenixville, Pa., was "an athlete and a scholar," his father said. He was a swim team member at West Point and enjoyed running, bicycling and competing in triathlons. "David was a soldier," said Richard Bernstein, who now lives in Knoxville, Tenn. "If the leadership made decisions, then he tried to follow them. He appreciated serving his country." He is also survived by his mother, Gail, and a brother and sister. David Richard Bernstein was born on April 14, 1979 in Mountain View, California. His parents, Richard and Gail Bernstein, had two older children, Michelle, born in 1975 and Doug, born in 1977. David as a baby, 1980 David lived with his family in Los Altos, California until 1982, when Richard was transferred by his company, the Lockheed Corporation, to Dallas, Texas. In Dallas, David started school and became active in sports, especially soccer. David, Brother Doug, Sister Michelle, Cousin Rae Leigh - 1981 In 1985, the family relocated to Austin, Texas where David spent most of his youth. He excelled academically and was a participant in several gifted student programs in grammar, middle and high school. During summer vacations, David began to swim competitively and continued to do so for his high school team. David became very active in his religious youth group, the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, and was elected to a position on the regional board of directors during his sophomore year in high school. He attended national summer camps and conventions in 1994 and 1995. David with his mom - 1982 In the summer of 1995, David’s father was again transferred by the newly merged Lockheed Martin Corporation. David had just completed his sophomore year in high school, his sister was in college, and his brother was entering his senior year in high school. Only David accompanied his parents to their new home in Phoenixville , Pennsylvania. At the Phoenixville Area High School, David, who was 6 feet tall, 175 pounds, with brown hair, blue eyes, and a swimmer's physique, continued to swim competitively, for both the school and the local YMCA. He also played David, his brother Doug, and sister football for one year. His coach and history teacher, Hank Michelle - 1984 Coyne, remembers David as “well respected by his peers, the administration and fellow classmates. He wasn’t flashy and had a quiet kind of confidence.” ' Mathematics teacher Sandra Parrish, said David was a “wonderful example to all students at the high school…Although he was only at the high school for two years, he left a good impression on our community. He left his mark.” David’s physics teacher, Carol Mandik wrote, “he was a very exceptional student, not only in the classroom but also in his personal life….I remember his resolve, his dedication to service and his wonderful smile.” Dave was popular with his fellow students for his achievements, modesty, and friendship. Adam Sharp commented that David was “real laid back. You could go to him if you needed anything from notes to a ride home.” Robyn Rosen recalled, “I will always remember Dave for his dedication, his smile that could light up a room, his ability to make you feel special and most of all for the wonderful person that he was.” Classmate Michael Parrish said “When you got to know him you knew he was going to go a long way. He had both athletic and mental capabilities and that’s very rare.” David was elected to membership in the National Honor Society and became an officer of that organization during his senior year. He also participated in several other clubs and academic competitions while maintaining a straight “A” academic grade average. David graduated first in his class from the Phoenixville Area High School in 1997. He was awarded a scholarship from Centocor, Inc. a biotechnology company founded in Philadelphia in 1979, and received nominations to both the United States Military and Naval Academies. David accepted the nomination to the US Military Academy at West Point and entered as a plebe in June 1997. He believed that he would receive an outstanding education, combining both academic and physical challenges, and have the opportunity to serve his country as an officer in the US Army. 1991 1992 1994 1997 During his four years at West Point, David: excelled in academics, athletics, and military science; and, graduated fifth in his class of 2001 graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering was nominated by the Academy for a Rhodes Scholarship was a member of the swim team, lettering each year was selected to be an exchange student at the US Air Force Academy for the first semester of his junior year qualified as a combat diver became airborne qualified participated in triathlon competitions was a member of the brigade staff during the last semester of his senior year David at West Point - 2001 David graduated from West Point on June 2, 2001 and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. Graduation Doug, David, and Michelle at the West Point Graduation Banquet He then served for nearly a year on temporary duty at Fort Benning , Georgia. It was at Fort Benning that David completed the Infantry Officers Basic Course and the Ranger Qualification Course. 1st Lieutenant Matt Mason remembers of David: “In Ranger School, he was the one everybody hoped was their Ranger buddy, because he consistently shouldered more than his share of the task. We could trust him to carry us to the next objective or pick us up when we couldn’t go another step. Given his accomplishments and paramount abilities, he always remained humble, nonchalant, and willing to lend a helping hand. He was a scholar, athlete, and dedicated friend to all.” Ranger School Graduation In May, 2002, David reported to his permanent duty station in Vicenza, Italy. He was assigned as the platoon leader of the 2nd Platoon, B Company, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 508th Infantry, of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. David was serving with the unit at the outbreak of the war in Iraq in March 2003. He was part of an airborne combat assault carried out by 1,000 soldiers of the 173rd, who parachuted into northern Iraq in the early days of the war to secure an airbase and oil facilities around Kirkuk. David continued to serve as platoon leader, leading his 30-50 man unit on various combat missions until August 2003 when he was assigned to be the Executive Officer of C Company. David in Italy, 2002 David (left), with fellow soldiers in Iraq - May, 2003 David served with distinction in Iraq and was well liked and respected by both his subordinates and superiors. He was affectionately known as “Super Dave” by his men and the senior officers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. On the night of October 18th, 2003, David was traveling in the third vehicle of a three vehicle convoy returning to their base of operations. While they were enroute, the base came under rocket attack. His convoy was the closest force to the location of the rocket launchers, and it was ordered to investigate and to stop the attack. As the convoy neared the suspected location of the rocket launchers, it came under attack by small arms fire. The driver of David’s Humvee lost control, resulting in it crashing into an embankment. The Humvee gunner was killed by gunfire and his assistant was immobilized. Their driver was thrown out of the vehicle and was trapped under the wheels when the Humvee rolled back over him. David exited the right side of the vehicle firing his weapon at the attackers and was immediately hit in the upper thigh by a bullet. He continued around the back of the vehicle and attempted five times to climb in behind the steering wheel. His fifth attempt was successful and he was able to move the Humvee off the driver and then pull him out from under the vehicle. At that point, David collapsed from loss of blood as the bullet had severed his femoral artery. David's parents receive his Silver Star The rest of the convoy returned and the enemy retreated. A medical helicopter was called in, but David never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at the hospital. 1st Lieutenant David Richard Bernstein was Killed In Action on October 18, 2003. David was buried on Friday, October 31, 2003 at West Point with Full Military Honors. David was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his action on October 18th. His Citation reads: For exceptionally valorous achievement while on patrol in Qutash, Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. First Lieutenant Bernstein, under extreme enemy fire, risked his life in an effort to rescue one of his Soldiers. Although suffering from a mortal wound, First Lieutenant Bernstein extracted the driver to safety, directed the security of his objective and repulsed the enemy forces before succumbing to his wounds. His actions are in keeping the finest tradition of military service and reflect distinct credit upon himself, the 4th Infantry Division, Combined Joint Task Force Seven and the United States Army. David was also awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, as well as the Combat Jump Star on his airborne wings, and Combat Infantry Badge. The Army, continuing to recognize David’s courage, named a forward operating base in Iraq in his honor. David with Platoon Sgt. Frank Lauer Sergeant First Class Frank Lauer’s Eulogy at David’s Memorial Service in Vicenza, Italy: Greater love hath no man than this, than a man who lays down his life for his friends.” John 15:13. I’ve always thought that this was a verse appropriate for a soldier. This was indeed the verse that describes Lt. Bernstein. This was true about his life also. Lt. Bernstein devoted his life to serving his country and his soldiers. He spent an inordinate amount of time ensuring that his soldiers were trained and prepared for war. He believed and trusted his Non-commissioned Officers, and had full faith and confidence in his soldiers. The respect that he afforded his men was returned to him in untold measures. His soldiers would do anything for him, they would never let him down and his NCOs would never let him fail. I’ve seen a lot of Platoon leaders in my career. Most are received as green Lieutenants that have these ideas that they think are original and are going to change the world. Lt. Bernstein was different. He didn’t act green, he had some very original ideas and he did change the world. He changed the world of everyone around him, those that knew him and those who didn’t. All infantry soldiers have Lieutenants, but how many of them are proud to say, “That’s my Platoon Leader”? I can tell you no matter what time of day, no matter how tired the platoon was from a twelve-mile road march, a pool PT session that was more like drowning PT, or from an all night mission in Iraq… the soldiers of 2nd Platoon Bravo Company were always proud when they said, That’s my Platoon Leader. Lt. Bernstein was not only a great leader, he was a great mentor, and a great friend for his soldiers. I was Lt. Bernstein’s Platoon Sergeant for 15 months, but more importantly, I’m proud to say, Lt. Bernstein was my Platoon Leader. I would not trade our friendship for anything. The Phoenixville Area School District established a Wall of Fame, with David as its first inductee. It was dedicated on Tuesday, May 25th2004. West Point Memorial to Swim Team Members Killed in Action - Arvin Gym David’s family established the David R. Bernstein Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Phoenixville Area High School graduates named as class valedictorians. His family also established, as a perpetual tribute, the 1st Lieutenant David R. Bernstein Memorial Award to be given to those in each graduating class of the United States Military Academy who achieve the fifth highest class standing, David’s standing in 2001. Congressman Curt Weldon read into the Congressional minutes a tribute to David on October 30, 2003. David (front right), with platoon in Iraq Spec. Maurice J. Johnson Hometown: Levittown, Pennsylvania, U.S. Age: 21 years old Died: November 1, 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unit: Army, C Company, 501st Signal Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky. Incident: Killed when a makeshift bomb hit his vehicle in Mosul. Spc. Maurice J. Johnson told his family he wasn't in danger. “I got worried when he told me he was going to Iraq," said his sister, Keisha Johnson. "And he told me, 'Keisha, don't worry about it, I'm not on infantry. I sit behind a desk all day _ nothing's going to happen to me.'" The 21-year-old communications specialist from Levittown, Pa., was killed Nov. 1 when his vehicle was bombed in Mosul, Iraq. He was stationed at Fort Campbell. At the time of his death, he was serving as a liaison to the governor of the Nineveh Province in northern Iraq. In high school, Johnson studied auto repair, excelled at the high jump on the track team, and was fond of baking desserts, his sister said. His late mother had encouraged him to enlist. "My mom's thing was do something with yourself," Keisha Johnson said. "If you're not going to go to college, go to the Army, just don't be hanging out on the street." Army Spc. Maurice J. Johnson Died November 01, 2003 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom 21, of Levittown, Pa.; assigned to C Company, 501st Signal Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), based in Fort Campbell, Ky.; killed Nov. 1 when his Humvee was hit by an improvised explosive device in Mosul, Iraq. Slain soldier named By Chantal Escoto The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf-Chronicle The name of a second soldier killed in a Nov. 1 enemy roadside bombing in Mosul, Iraq, was released by the Pentagon. Spc. Maurice J. Johnson, 21, Company C of the 501st Signal Battalion, died, along with 1st Lt. Joshua C. Hurley, 24, of 326th Engineer Battalion, when their Humvee hit what the military calls an improvised explosive device. Two others were injured in the attack, but their names will not be released. Johnson, a native of Levittown, Pa., entered the Army in July 2000 and arrived at Fort Campbell in April 2002 as a communications specialist. His sister, Keisha Johnson, 25, in Levittown, said she’s doing all she can to keep the family together after dealing with her oldest brother’s death. The family plans to have his burial in Pennsylvania — possibly at a military cemetery. His body arrived late on Nov. 3 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. “Everybody is OK. Our mom passed away two years ago, so it was just us left,” Keisha Johnson said, referring to herself and brothers Joshua, 19, and Abdul, 13. “Our family is close, but we’re not a big family.” She called it a blessing that she received an e-mail from her oldest brother two days before he was killed. “He said he’d send some pictures and couldn’t wait to get back home. He decided he wasn’t going to take his two weeks (R&R) and would wait to come home in March and April and be home with the family” Keisha Johnson said. “It was a little weird because I hadn’t heard from him for such a long time, and then I got the e-mail.” After Spc. Johnson graduated from Harry S. Truman High School in 2000, where he was on the track team, he joined the military. His sister said he had hopes of making a career of the Army. She said although her brother was quiet, he was never short on making others laugh. “He was always trying to make jokes,” Keisha Johnson said, recalling the times he called her from Iraq pretending to be a bill collector or acting like an ex-boyfriend trying to stir up trouble. But Spc. Johnson was always even-tempered and gentle. “You had to really make him upset about something before he got mad,” she said. “All of us had our own special bond with Maurice. He was close to all of us. I’m going to miss him dearly.” A Fort Campbell memorial service is not planned because the 101st Airborne Division is deployed. Johnson and Hurley were both remembered and honored Soldier from Pennsylvania killed in attack FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — A specialist from Pennsylvania was identified as one of two soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division killed Oct. 31 in northern Iraq in a roadside bombing. Spc. Maurice Johnson, 21, of Levittown, Pa., and 1st. Lt. Joshua C. Hurley, 24, from Clifton Forge, Va., were both killed in Mosul when the Humvee they were riding in was hit by an improvised explosive device. Johnson was assigned to the 101st’s 501st Signal Battalion. Johnson was a single channel tactical satellite operator and provided communications for the commanding general of the 101st. During the onset of combat operations early in the war, he provided radio support that linked the base camps during combat operations. At the time of his death, he was serving as a liaison to the governor of the Nineveh Province in northern Iraq. “Whether it was helping out the servers, protecting the city hall during a riot, or traveling to work at the mayor’s office,” said Lt. Col. Welton Chase Jr., commander of the 501st. “Johnson always did his job and did it well.” Johnson is survived by his sister, Kieshia Johnson, of Levittown, Pa. — Associated Press Sgt. Timothy L. Hayslett Hometown: Newville, Pennsylvania, U.S. Age: 26 years old Died: November 15, 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unit: Army, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, Germany Incident: Killed by a makeshift bomb while on patrol in Baghdad. At age 26, Timothy L. Hayslett had already served eight years in the Army and had just re-enlisted with the idea of spending his entire career in the military. From Iraq, he complained about the heat but otherwise seemed to be enjoying his job and was in good spirits. "He said, 'Don't worry about me, Mom. My guys and I take care of each other. We're all going to come out of this alive. We'll be all right,'" said his mother, Mary Hayslett. Sgt. Hayslett, who was from Carlisle, Pa., and stationed in Germany, died Nov. 15 when the Humvee he was in was hit by a grenade in Baghdad. Survivors include his wife, Kori, and daughters Gracy and Kaitlyn. "When I found out that he was going to Iraq, I was worried that he was afraid," Mary Hayslett said. "Then he called from Germany and he said, 'Mom, I'm not afraid. I'm ready to drive my tank right onto Saddam's front steps.'" Timothy L. Hayslett Timothy L. Hayslett Sgt. Timothy L. Hayslett, 26, stationed at Friedberg, Germany and formerly of Newville, was killed Saturday, November 15, 2003, in Baghdad, Iraq, while serving in the U.S. Army. He was born May 17, 1977, in Winston-Salem, NC, the son of Guy L. and Mary Davidson Hayslett of Newville. Sgt. Hayslett had attended Big Spring High School. In addition to his parents, he is survived by two daughters, Kaitlyn O. Brough of Newville and Gracy L. Hayslett of Barnsville, OH; two brothers, Phillip S. and Robert L. Hayslett, both of Newville and one sister, Melody A. Hayslett of Newville; maternal grandfather, William Davidson of FL; maternal grandmother, Betty A. Karns of Mechanicsburg; one nephew and one niece. Funeral services will be held on Monday, November 24, 2003 at 12 Noon, in the Newville Assembly of God Church, 403 Oak Flat Road, Newville, with the Rev. Jeffrey Kettering officiating. Friends will be received in the church from 10 a.m. to 12 Noon, on Monday. Burial will follow in the Center Lutheran Church Cemetery, Center Road, Newville. Memorial contributions may be sent to the Tim Hayslett Memorial Fund, c/o Members 1st Federal Credit Union, P.O. Box 40, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055. Arrangements are under the direction of the Egger Funeral Home, Newville. www.pennlive.com/obits Published in Patriot-News on November 23, 2003 Father of Kaitlyn Brough and Gracy Hayslett, son of Guy and Mary Hayslett, Brother of Phillip Hayslett, Melody Connelly, and PVT Robert Hayslett (US Army). Army Sgt. Timothy L. Hayslett Died November 15, 2003 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom 26, of Newville, Pa.; assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, based in Friedberg, Germany; killed while on patrol Nov. 15 when his Humvee was struck by an improvised explosive device in Baghdad. Family remembers Cumberland County, Pa., soldier killed in Iraq Associated Press CARLISLE, Pa. — A soldier from central Pennsylvania was killed in Iraq when a grenade was thrown into a Humvee as it was driving down a side street in Baghdad, his mother said. Sgt. Timothy L. Hayslett, 26, was a passenger in the Humvee, which came under fire on on Nov. 15 as it was patrolling the city, according to his mother, Mary Hayslett. The family learned of his death from Army officials who visited their Carlisle-area home the next evening. Two other soldiers were injured in the attack, she said. “He’s a hero and everybody should know about him,” Mary Hayslett said. Hayslett, a graduate of Big Spring High School, was assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment of the 1st Armored Division, based in Friedberg, Germany. His wife, Kori, and 3-year-old daughter, Gracy, live in Ohio, while another daughter, Kaitlyn Brough, attends Newville Elementary School in Pennsylvania, according to The Sentinel newspaper in Carlisle. Hayslett had served in the Army for eight years and went to Iraq in May. He had planned to spend his career in the military and had just re-enlisted, said his father, Guy Hayslett. He was scheduled to return to Germany in December, then spend Jan. 15 to Feb. 15 at home before going to Alaska, his mother said. “When I found out that he was going to Iraq, I was worried that he was afraid,” Mary Hayslett said. “Then he called from Germany and he said, ‘Mom, I’m not afraid. I’m ready to drive my tank right onto Saddam’s front steps.’ His parents said Hayslett complained about the heat, but otherwise seemed to be enjoying his job and was in good spirits “The last time that I talked to him, I got an e-mail. He said, ‘Don’t worry about me, Mom. My guys and I take care of each other. We’re all going to come out of this alive. We’ll be all right.”’ Mary Hayslett said that in one of his last e-mails, Timothy said he wanted to see yellow ribbons on the trees in the yard. “’You’ve got the only son on the street serving in Iraq,” she remembers him writing. The yellow ribbons are there now, and the Big Spring School District is also honoring Hayslett by flying the flags outside its schools at half-staff and having flowers places at a veterans’ memorial at the high school. “All of the individuals that I’ve spoken with that knew Tim well are saddened by his death,” Big Spring Superintendent William Cowden said. “Tim was serving his country and representing us. We’re proud of what he was doing. We extend our sympathy to his family.” A 1976 Big Spring graduate, Sgt. Randall D. Shughart, died in October 1993 while helping to rescue a downed helicopter pilot in Mogadishu, Somalia. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Sgt. Ernest G. Bucklew Hometown: Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, U.S. Age: 33 years old Died: November 2, 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unit: Army, Support Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo. Incident: Killed when insurgents shot down a CH-47 Chinook helicopter in Fallujah. Once she saw the 5-foot-3 Ernest Bucklew, with his brown eyes and brown hair, Barbara Bucklew she knew she wanted to spend her life with him. "Even on your worst day, he knew how to make you laugh," she said. "That had to be his best quality." Sgt. Ernie Bucklew was on his way home for his mother's funeral when he was killed in the Nov. 2 downing of an Army helicopter carrying troops home on leave. His mother, Mary Ellen Bucklew, died two days earlier at age 57 of a burst aneurysm. "They say there's a reason for everything, but I just can't find a reason for this," said Bucklew's uncle, Jack Smith of Point Marion, Pa. The son of a coal miner, the 33-year-old Bucklew had been in the Army since 1999 and was stationed at Fort Carson. He was a "happygo-lucky kind of guy and a really good friend," said David Davis of Charles Town, W.Va., who played high school football with Bucklew. In his last e-mail to his uncle, Bucklew wrote: "This is a letter from hell." Besides his wife, he is survived by sons Joshua, 8, and 4-year-old Justin. Ernest Glenn "Ernie" Bucklew BUCKLEW SGT. ERNEST GLENN "ERNIE" U.S. ARMY Ernest "Ernie" Glenn Bucklew, Sgt. U.S. Army, 33, was killed, Sunday, November 2, 2003, while on military duty in Iraq. Born July 28, 1970, in New Geneva, PA. Ernie is survived by his wife, Barbara Ellen Kennedy Bucklew and his sons, Joshua 9 and Justin 4, of Fort Carson, Colorado; his father, Donald R. Bucklew; sister and brother-in-law, Dawn Marie and Chris DeFelice; niece Kristyn and nephew, Zackary, all of Enon Valley, PA. He was preceded in death by his mother, Mary Ellen Bucklew, on October 31, 2003. Sgt. Bucklew will lie in state Fri. 79pm and Sat. 11am until time of Service at 1pm in Highland Middle School, 402 Shenango Rd., Beaver Falls. Interment will follow for Ernie and his mother, Mary Ellen, in Beaver Falls Cemetery, Chippewa Twp. where he will be presented with full Military Honors. The family is requesting that donations to a trust fund in the names of Ernie's sons, Joshua and Justin Bucklew be made in lieu of flowers. Donations can be sent to: First National Bank, Chippewa Office, 2634 Darlington Rd., Beaver Falls, PA 15010. Ernie's family and friends thank him for making their lives better. CAMPBELL'S CHIPPEWA FUNERAL HOME, www.campbellfuneralhomes.com 2618 Darlington Road, Beaver Falls, PA is in charge of arrangements. Soldier dies while heading home for mother's funeral Among 16 killed by missle attack on U.S. helicopter Monday, November 03, 2003 By Ann Belser, Post-Gazette Staff Writer Sgt. Ernest Bucklew, 33, was coming home from Iraq on an emergency leave to attend the funeral of his mother when his helicopter was shot from the sky. In three days, Donald Bucklew, of Darlington Township, lost his wife and his son. "His mother and dad prayed every night that he would come home safe," said Jack Smith, of Point Marion, Fayette County, Ernest Bucklew's uncle. The family tragedy started Friday afternoon. Mary Ellen Bucklew, 57, was driving home from work at a warehouse when an aneurysm in one of the arteries leading to her heart burst. Her vehicle ran into the median of the road and she died. Smith said Ernest Bucklew's wife, Barbara, went to the American Red Cross and put in a plea to get him home for the funeral. The couple lived in Fort Carson, Colo., with their two sons, Justin, 6, and Joshua, 4. Smith said the Army agreed to get him to Fort Carson, but that he would have to get to Pennsylvania on his own. The plan was that Ernest Bucklew would pick up his family and they would all come to Pennsylvania to attend the funeral. The CH-47 Chinook he was aboard was one of two helicopters flying out information from an air base in Habbaniyah, Iraq, yesterday carrying troops to Baghdad on route for rest and recreation leaves. In flight, two missiles streaked into the sky from a ground position and slammed into the rear of the helicopter, witnesses told The Associated Press. It crashed in flames in farmers' fields west of Baghdad, killing 16 and wounding 20 in the deadliest strike against U.S. forces since they invaded Iraq in March. "Two deaths in three days is hard. I'm scared to death for my brother-in-law," Smith said. The family is close-knit, holding yearly reunions. One of Ernest Bucklew's cousins stayed with Barbara Bucklew last night. She and her children will return to Pennsylvania today. Bucklew had recently e-mailed his uncle that the military was offering soldiers 10 days off in the States, but that he did not plan to come home because it would be harder for his children to see him for 10 days and then say goodbye again than to not see him at all, Smith said. Ernest Bucklew grew up in Geneva, Fayette County, the son of a coal miner. Bucklew was about 13 when his family moved to Morgantown, W.Va., and he graduated from high school there. After high school, Bucklew's family moved to Beaver County, where Donald Bucklew is an electrician for Duquesne Light Co. Ernest Bucklew joined the National Guard after high school. About five years ago, his uncle said, he joined the Army. He and his wife moved to Georgia for two years, then to Colorado. Yesterday afternoon Smith got the call from Bucklew's sister, Dawn Marie DeFelice, that his nephew had died when the helicopter was shot down. "I can't find any reason for both of them going like this," he said. Funeral arrangements were incomplete last night. First published on November 3, 2003 at 12:00 am KDKA-TV contributed to this report. Ann Belser can be reached at abelser@postgazette.com or 412-263-1699. Soldier is back home for his, mom's burial Friday, November 07, 2003 By Ann Belser, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The remains of Army Sgt. Ernest Bucklew arrived in Pittsburgh last night, fulfilling his family's wish for a joint funeral for him and his mother. Bucklew, 33, was on his way here from Iraq to attend his mother's funeral when he was killed along with 14 others when their helicopter was shot down near Fallujah, Iraq, on Sunday. Mary Ellen Bucklew, 57, of Darlington, Beaver County, died last Friday while driving home from work. A spokesman for the family, William Braslawsce, said Bucklew's wife, Barbara, and children, Joshua, 9, and Justin, 4, arrived at Pittsburgh International Airport from Fort Collins, Colo., Wednesday night. They were greeted by a military escort and Barbara's father-in-law, Donald Bucklew, who is Mary Ellen Bucklew's husband and Ernest Bucklew's father. Braslawsce said Barbara Bucklew and her sons will remain in the Pittsburgh area. Sgt. Bucklew's body was the first of the helicopter attack victims to be returned to the United States, Army spokesman Maj. Greg Yesko said. Typically, the military takes seven to 10 days to return the remains of dead soldiers, but in this case, people at both the Pentagon and at Central Command in the Middle East were aware of the family's circumstances and expedited the return, Yesko said. The remains arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware yesterday. They were accompanied by a detachment from Fort Carson, Colo. Bucklew was assigned to the Support Squadron for the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Visitation for Mary Ellen Bucklew continues today from 2 to 4 p.m. at Campbell's Chippewa Funeral Home, Beaver Falls. A joint visitation for Mary Ellen and Ernest Bucklew will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow at Highland Middle School in Beaver Falls. The funeral will immediately follow Saturday's visitation at the middle school. Burial will be in Beaver Falls Cemetery. Yesko said there will be a military ceremony for Ernest Bucklew at the cemetery. The family asks that donations be made to a memorial trust fund set up for Bucklew's sons at First National Bank, 2634 Darlington Road, Suite No. 3, Beaver Falls 15010. Ann Belser can be reached at abelser@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1699. First published on November 7, 2003 at 12:00 am Joint funeral for GI and mom delayed Family just wants body of soldier killed in Iraq helicopter crash Wednesday, November 05, 2003 By Paula Reed Ward, Post-Gazette Staff Writer All Ernest Bucklew's family wants is an answer to what seems to them a simple question: When will the soldier's remains be returned to Beaver County? Bucklew was one of 15 soldiers killed Sunday when a CH47 Chinook helicopter was shot down near Fallujah, Iraq. While the same question must weigh on all the grieving families, for the Bucklews, it's especially heavy. They would like to have a joint funeral for Bucklew and his mother, Mary Ellen Bucklew, who died Friday when an aneurysm in an artery leading to her heart burst. Bucklew died as he was heading back to the U.S. for her funeral. "His tragedy is a result of her sudden death," said Donald Bucklew, Bucklew's father. "He was coming home to be with his mother, and that's my goal -- for him to be with his mother." Sgt. Ernest Bucklew's father, Donald Bucklew, and sister, Dawn Defelice, talk with reporters yesterday in Darlington, Pa. (Dave Miller, Associated Press) Click photo for larger image. Yesterday, the Bucklew family sounded a plea through the news media for the quick return of his body. The military cannot tell them when Bucklew's remains will make it back to the United States. His father was told seven to 10 days. Bucklew's wife, Barbara, was told five to seven. A call to the Defense Department at the Pentagon was referred to U.S. Central Command in Florida. Central Command referred the question to the Department of the Army at the Pentagon. The Army sent the question back to Central Command, who then referred it to the public affairs office in Baghdad. Still, there was no response. Because the family would like to hold a joint, open-casket funeral service on Saturday, they're anxious to know when the 33-year-old soldier's remains will reach home. Sgt. Ernest Bucklew is shown with his wife Barbara, and sons Justin, left, and Joshua in this 2001 family holiday card. Maj. Steve Stover, an Army spokesperson based at the Pentagon, said he couldn't say how long it will take to get Click photo for larger image. a body back to the United States, because that job falls to the people running the war theater -- in this case U.S. Central Command. "The Army doesn't take back responsibility of the soldier's body until the body gets back on U.S. soil," he said. Once the body is recovered, it's prepared much as it would be by a medical examiner, then sent back to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. From there, it's flown to the closest airport to the soldier's home, then escorted to a funeral home. Sometimes, an investigation into the cause of death can cause a delay, he said. He couldn't say if that's what's happening in Bucklew's case. Sam Oaks, whose grandson, Donald Oaks Jr., was killed April 3 in Iraq, said it took about 10 days to get the remains back to the Erie area. His family was able to have an open-casket ceremony. For now, not knowing the condition of the body or when it will arrive is making it difficult for the Bucklews to plan the joint funeral service. The family is reeling from the two unexpected deaths in just three days. At a news conference yesterday morning in Darlington, Beaver County, Donald Bucklew's eyes remained rimmed with tears. He is waiting for his daughter-in-law, Barbara, and grandsons Joshua, 9, and Justin, 4, to arrive. Ernest Bucklew had been stationed at Fort Stewart, Ga., for three years before he was sent to Fort Carson, Colo., where his family has been living. He was assigned to the Support Squadron for the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Following so closely the death of his wife of 33 years, the death of his son in Iraq has left Donald Bucklew feeling numb. "It was totally unbelievable that this could happen," he said. The last time the family spoke with Bucklew was Oct. 26. "We were all home and got a chance to talk to him," Donald Bucklew said. "He honestly believed that what we're doing is the right thing. He didn't like the country. He thought it was a terrible place, but he had a job to do." Dawn Marie DeFelice, Bucklew's sister, said she's been trying to explain the two deaths to her children. "They can't understand why, and I don't know how to explain it to them," she said. "I just tell them they're up in heaven watching over us, and they'll always be in our hearts." Donald Bucklew said he spoke with his grandsons in Colorado Monday evening. "I let them tell me what's on their mind," Donald Bucklew said. "I just listen. Both boys are anxious to get home here to grandpap." Once Bucklew's remains are returned here, the funeral will be held at Campbell's Chippewa Funeral Home on Darlington Road and burial will be in Beaver Falls Cemetery. A memorial trust fund has been set up for Bucklew's sons at First National Bank at 2634 Darlington Road, Suite No. 3, Beaver Falls 15010. Paula Reed Ward can be reached at pward@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1455.