"The night before he left my wife asked him 'Why are you going?' He said, 'I got a calling. There's a calling to me, I gotta go do this'." |
JUAN F. CAMPOS, died June 1, 2007, aged 27
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Juan Campos' last battle is over.
The 27-year-old from McAllen died Friday, more than two weeks after he was injured while on patrol in Iraq.
Campos was badly burned by a roadside bomb attack and transported back to Texas in critical condition .
In San Antonio, Campos was given a 50-50 chance of survival. He had received burns to about 80 percent of his body. His kidneys were also damaged, and he needed a respirator to breathe.
Last month, the wife of Juan Campos described him as "this one guy who always does everything right." He's quiet and loving, she said -- and an "amazing dancer".
Then, referring to the uncertainty surrounding her husband's condition. "It's like we're losing our life as he's slipping away."
Last Friday, Campos did finally slip away, his injuries too great to overcome, leaving behind his wife, and his 8-year-old son.
Juan Campos reported to have died in Texas from Iraq IED inuries
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"He's the reason why I finished chemistry in junior college, because he told me, 'Don't ever quit, even when it's hard.'" |
TRAVIS W. ATKINS, died June 1, 2007, aged 31
BRUCE E. HORNER, died June 1, 2007, aged 43
JEREMIAH D. COSTELLO, died June 2, 2007, aged 22
KEITH V. NEPSA, died June 2, 2007, aged 21
ROMEL CATALAN, died June 2, 2007, aged 21
JARED (WILLIAM J.) CROUCH, died June 2, 2007, aged 21
DARIEK E. DEHN, died June 2, 2007, aged 32
SHAWN E DRESSLER, died June 2, 2007, aged 22
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"He got his papers to be home Sunday. It was the end of his tour of duty over there. He was going from one base to the other to get on the plane and come back home." |
ROBERT A. SURBER, died June 3, 2007, aged 24
He had a unique laugh, the kind of laugh almost impossible to imitate, but when attempted, brings smiles to those who've heard it before.
Jeremy Lentz has heard that laugh countless times before, and it's the simple laugh he said he'll always remember of his friend, Robert Surber. Lentz, 25, smiled as he revisited times growing up with Surber on Monday before a service to honor the 24-year-old Inverness soldier killed last week in Iraq.
"All of my best memories of growing up had him involved somehow," he said.
Since the two met in the sixth grade and became friends, "they were inseparable," Lentz's mother, Sandy Dayton, said.
It was Lentz who accompanied Surber's body Saturday on a flight from Dover, Del., to Brooksville. In that time, Lentz tried composing his thoughts for a eulogy for his friend.
After six pages, he gave up; there was just too much to say about the man he loved like a brother.
Lentz smiled as he talked of childhood adventures with Surber in the Boy Scouts, and other memories. Growing up, there was some typical troublemaking Lentz joked couldn't be put in print.
There was a potato gun incident that dented his mother's shed, he laughed. Surber loved that potato gun. The two would also race Surber's go-kart around his yard, and then stay up all night talking.
Lentz ended up joining the U.S. Coast Guard, eventually requesting that he be stationed in Seattle, Wash., so that he could be closer to Surber after he joined the Army. Lentz and Surber would often meet back home when they were on leave. "Those were the best leave times, when we were both here together," he said.
One Memorial Day weekend, the two best friends hung out and again stayed up each night talking, planning a backpacking trip through Europe.
Lentz said he won't making that trip now. "He was the only one I wanted to go with."
On a poster board in the church foyer, people had scribbled in black permanent marker various thoughts and feelings about Surber. Some recalled talking with him about bands and music, while one friend recalled the two sitting together and eating ice cream.
Lentz wrote, "You're the only man I'll ever love. You're my only brother through friendship." And then he presented one last question to his friend: "What do I do now?"
Robert A. Surber dies 'of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle'
Robert Surber remembered
Robert Surber laid to rest
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"They didn't have a eulogy, they did a slide show backed by music. His daughter would yell 'Daddy' when she saw the pictures. It was heartbreaking for a lot of people." |
JOSHUA D. BROWN, died June 3, 2007, aged 26
KIMEL L. WATT, died June 3, 2007, aged 21
TYLER J. KRITZ, died June 3, 2007, aged 21
GREG P. GAGARIN, died June 3, 2007, aged 38
CHRISOPHER P. CALEB, died June 3, 2007, aged 25
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"He had a dream to drive tanks. What young boy doesn't dream of driving tanks?" |
JAMES C. AKIN, died June 3, 2007, aged 23
Some day, the Oval Office would be his.
He had been days away from turning 24, days away from returning from the war in Iraq.
" 'When I get back, they better be ready,' " Akin's longtime friend and debate coach, Dave Poyer, read from a letter Akin wrote to him May 7. " 'We're going to change this stuff.' "
James C. Akin, the would-be president, was so driven by that thought that he enlisted in the Army and served in Iraq so that as a presidential candidate, he could speak with the experience of a war veteran.
"He was willing to put his actions where his mouth was," said Victor Raigoza, a spokesman for Akin's family. "If one day he occupied the office where war would be determined, he felt that it would be necessary for him to have experienced that."
Akin had been a volunteer for the state Democratic Party in 2000, working at various times on the campaigns of John Kelly, Gary King, Patricia Madrid, Denish and Gov. Bill Richardson.
"He was political. He was passionate," said his wife, Syreeta Akin of Rio Rancho.
She recalled that on their first date in March 2004 he had asked her two important questions: Was she a registered voter and was she a Democrat?
" 'Good,' " she said he responded when she said yes to both.
"He loved his country and was proud to be an American, more so than anyone I know," the composed young widow said.
Raigoza said Akin's character is showcased in a letter he wrote after the 2004 political campaign.
"Live life to serve, because you can. Dissent, because you can. Enjoy freedom, because you can," Akin wrote. "Remember always that the measure of our progress is not whether we can provide more for those who have plenty, but whether we can provide enough to those who have little."
James C. Akin dies 'of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle'
James Akin laid to rest
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"He was a great kid. He may not have been the best at everything he did, but he always tried his hardest." |
JUSTIN A. VERDEJA, died June 5, 2007, aged 20
ANDREWS J. HIGGINS, died June 5, 2007, aged 28
RYAN A. BALMER, died June 5, 2007, aged 33
MATTHEW J. KUGLICS, died June 5, 2007, aged 25
TIMOTHY B. COLE JR., died June 6, 2007, aged 28
SHAWN D. GAJDOS, died June 6, 2007, aged 25
GREG L. SUTTON, died June 6, 2007, aged 38
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"He was supposed to come home on leave in August to see the baby. He has a son he has never seen." |
MATTHEW SOPER, died June 6, 2007, aged 25
Shortly after Shirley Soper received news her son had been killed in Iraq, a military representative asked what could be done to make things better.
Sgt. Matthew Soper's mother had only one request: "Bring Derek Eisele home."
Eisele had been Matthew Soper's closest friend since their days at Jackson Catholic Middle School.
Eisele, a sergeant, had been having to deal with the death of his compadre without the comfort of his friends and family who had been gathering and grieving since they received word Soper was killed.
"They were together 24/7," said Eisele's mother, Mickey Eisele. They always had each other's backs, she said, damp-eyed after a short conversation with her son, who was delivered the dreaded news at 3 a.m. On the phone, he was sobbing, she said.
Soper and Eisele were friends throughout their years at Lumen Christi High School, joined the National Guard together and accompanied each other on every mission during their first tour in Iraq.
"They finished each other's sentences," Mickey Eisele said.
"We couldn't get away from each other," Eisele said. "He was my roommate, my gun partner and my battle buddy. You feel 100 times safer when it's your best friend protecting your back."
So when the pair parted ways earlier this year for different assignments, the separation caused some uneasiness. It was two months before they would see one another again, when Soper surprised Eisele by stopping at his base.
"Maybe it was God saying Matt's got to see you one more time," Eisele said.
After learning of their son's death, Shirley and Warner Soper spent the next week "knocking down doors" to bring his best friends and military family home. They succeeded last week when four, including Eisele, returned to Michigan.
"It's what Matthew would have wanted, and it's what we wanted," Shirley Soper said. "They needed to be here."
The trip home was a relief for Soper's close friends, who were told they wouldn't be able to attend the funeral.
"I would have been a wreck if they didn't let me come home," said John Phelps, Soper's longtime friend who is a communications officer in the 1461st.
"This is what I needed to do, to come home and be with the people who knew and loved him like I did. I'm so grateful just to make it back so I could say goodbye to my brother."
Army officials tell soldiers to write letters to their families in case something should happen to them, but Soper brushed off the idea during his first tour, reassuring everyone he would return home, Warner Soper said.
Before returning to Michigan, Eisele headed to Soper's barracks to pick up some of his personal items. Stuck under his computer was an envelope addressed to his family in case he didn't make it home alive.
"I didn't know he could write like that. It was so beautiful," Warner Soper said in tears. In the three-page letter Soper thanked his family for everything they've done and let them know he would continue to watch out for them.
"It said if we wanted to talk to him, just to look up and I'll be the first star you see," Shirley Soper said.
"I looked up at the stars for him last night."
Matthew Soper dies 'of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device'
Matthew Soper remembered
Matthew Soper laid to rest
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"He role modeled himself after his uncles and cousin. We have a strong military tradition." |
WILLIAM N. NEWMAN, died June 7, 2007, aged 23
CORY M. ENDLICH, died June 9, 2007, aged 23
SCOTT A. MILLER, died June 9, 2007, aged 20
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"Material things didn't really mean that much to him. He was all heart." |
ERIC M. BARNES, died June 9, 2007, aged 20
Escorted by an honor guard from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the body of Air Force Airman 1st Class Eric Barnes, 20, killed in Iraq June 10, arrived home yesterday morning.
After landing at the Lorain County Regional Airport just after 9 a.m., Air Force personnel took his flag-draped casket from the charter plane to the waiting funeral car.
''It's fitting that he has a memorial service in the school that he just graduated from,'' said John Nesbit, one of Barnes' science teachers from his high school years. ''Eric loved Admiral King. You certainly couldn't have had the memorial service in a regular funeral home - there's too many people coming.''
Added Nesbit, ''He was well-liked by everybody that he touched. I think that will be evident at the memorial service on Tuesday.''
At the age of 17, Eric Barnes earned the status of Eagle Scout -- the highest rank a Boy Scout can receive -- by building a handicapped-accessible ramp at the Murray Ridge Production Center in Oberlin.
The designation followed years of volunteering and helping Boy Scouts younger than him, in addition to the countless hours working his way through the Boy Scout ranks.
Admiral King Principal Thomas Tucker knew Barnes from attending church with his family, and also from his years serving as school band director, where Barnes played trumpet for four years.
''He was a heck of a kid,'' Tucker said. ''He would always volunteer, always be the first one to help out. He was very, very nice.''
Added Tucker, ''The world needs more kids like Eric.''
Mark Tressel, Barnes' horticulture teacher at Admiral King who also hired Barnes in the summer to do landscaping work, remembered Barnes as one of his favorite students.
''I assure you, he will be sorely missed. It's a travesty,'' Tressel said.
Two flags hang from the Barnes' porch pillars of their Osborn Avenue home. One portrays a yellow ribbon, while on the opposite pillar, an American flag.
Shary Barnes hung them up when her son first went to Iraq. She supported her son, and will remain supporting the troops that continue to fight overseas. The flags will remain up, she said, but it's time for the troops to return to the U.S.
"I know my son didn't die for nothing," she said. "But even before this happened, I really felt that they should bring those boys home."
Eric M. Barnes dies 'as result of an improvised explosive device attack on an Air Force convoy'
Eric Barnes remembered
Eric Barnes laid to rest
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"We were planning a wedding, and now I'm planning a funeral." |
BRIAN M. LONG, died June 10, 2007, aged 32
ADAM G. HEROLD, died June 10, 2007, aged 23
NGIRAKED MERESEBANG, died June 10, 2007, aged 21
LLYTHANIELE FENDER, died June 10, 2007, aged 21
CAMERON K. PAYNE, died June 11, 2007, aged 22
CHRIS (WILLIAM C.) JOHNSON, died June 12, 2007, aged 22
JOHNNY R. STRONG, died June 12, 2007, aged 21
DAMON G. LEGRAND, died June 12, 2007, aged 27
CASEY S. CARRIKER, died June 13, 2007, aged 20
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"He didn't want us to worry about him. He figured the less he told us the less we'd worry." |
FARID ELAZZOUZI, died June 14, 2007, aged 26
When the 14-hour-a-day menial job got to Spc. Farid Elazzouzi, he looked to the Army for a better opportunity at realizing the American dream.
Elazzouzi was born in Morocco. His father died, leaving behind his mother and older siblings. His mother now lives in Oujda, a city of 342,000, near the Algerian border. Elazzouzi managed to win a green card from an annual lottery in Morocco and decided to leave home, said Youssef Douaoula, the owner of Casablanca Grocery -- a hub for Moroccans on Main Street in Paterson.
About two years ago, Elazzouzi arrived in Paterson with a friend during the winter, remembered Abdalilah Louhab, another Paterson acquaintance. Elazzouzi moved to a Getty Avenue apartment with several roommates, whom he knew well from Morocco. He started working as a busboy at Alkhayam, a local restaurant.
Though he loved America, the job quickly wore on him. "He was working from 9 o'clock in the morning until 11 p.m.," said Louhab, 27, a barber. "It was hard on him."
But Elazzouzi was strong and fit. The military could help improve his English, he believed. And a steady salary would benefit his family back in Oujda, Morocco.
So Elazzouzi enlisted in the Army in 2005.
Elazzouzi's death shocked his friend Louhab when he learned about what had happened last week in Iraq. He also felt for the soldier's loved ones in Morocco.
"His poor family," Louhab said. "He was just trying to support them."
Farid Elazzouzi dies 'of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle'
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"He was raised rough and tough. We thought he'd be invincible -- we thought he'd go over there and help out, and then come back and be fine." |
JOSIAH W. HOLLOPETER, died June 14, 2007, aged 27
VAL JOHN BORM, died June 14, 2007, aged 21
DEREK T. ROBERTS, died June 14, 2007, aged 24
DUSTIN R. BRISKY, died June 14, 2007, aged 26
RICHARD K. PARKER, died June 14, 2007, aged 26
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"The more people know about my son, it may change things here. Maybe we should be there. Or maybe we should take care of our own because who is going to take care of us? Those over there or us?" |
MICHAEL A. BECHERT, died June 14, 2007, aged 24
Brandon Bechert sat among the flowers left in front of a framed picture of his father, Staff Sgt. Michael A. Bechert. With one tiny hand he picked up a rose and shook it. The smile that had been on his young face all afternoon as adults paid their last respects to his father showed itself again.
Not yet 2 years old, Brandon didn't seem to know just what was going on Monday as he sat in the front pew of the Ledward Barracks chapel. As soldiers recounted stories of the young boy's father, he pointed to the ceiling and played with a small toy.
When gunshots rang out in salute of his father he didn't flinch or frown. When taps played, he smiled and sputtered.
But Brandon's mother, Daniela, and the soldiers who filled the pews knew exactly why they were there: To remember Bechert, who died June 14, more than two weeks after he was wounded in a roadside bombing that killed three of his soldiers in Baghdad.
Along with his wife and young son, he leaves behind the grandfather who raised him. His grandfather doesn't understand why he will have to plan a funeral rather than a triumphant homecoming.
"Why did we go into Iraq, explain this to me. Why did we go in there when there was nothing there? The whole world told us to stay out. Why did we go in there?" said George Bechert, Michael's grandfather.
"Why are we doing this? Why are we killing off our young men? It's not worth it, not worth it," said George.
Michael A. Bechert dies 'on 14 June in San Antonio, Texas of wounds suffered when his vehicle struck an IED on May 30 in Baghdad'
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"He molded me into the soldier I am today. He took care of us, he put us under the wings. He had big shoulders." |
KEVIN J. SONNENBERG, died June 15, 2007, aged 42
MICHAEL P. PITTMAN, died June 15, 2007, aged 34
ZACHARY A. GRASS, died June 16, 2007, aged 22
DANNY R. SOTO, died June 16, 2007, aged 24
FRANK B. WALKUP IV, died June 16, 2007, aged 23
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"You're not supposed to bury your children." |
DAVID A. WILKEY JR., died June 18, 2007, aged 22
ELKHART -- U.S. Army Pfc. David Wilkey Jr. would rather hunt, play with his children and deposit a raw egg into his aunt's mailbox as a practical joke more than almost anything else in the world.
The 2003 Jimtown High School graduate was nothing short of an all-around family man -- a young, upbeat and fun-loving guy willing to sacrifice to take care of his family, say those who knew him best. In fact, love for his wife and children and a determination to support them financially drove him to join the Army last year.
It was a love that led to his ultimate sacrifice Monday, the day he died from wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit in Baghdad.
Wilkey Jr. had an older sister and a younger twin sister and brother, along with two older brothers who died when they were babies.
"He was a good son," father David Wilkey Sr. said. "He always wanted to joke with you. He had a big heart... a son that any father could be proud of."
After Wilkey Jr. graduated from Jimtown High School -- where he played football and wrestled -- he worked for several years at Plastic Components with his father before being laid off. Times got tough, so he completed boot camp at Fort Benning, Ga., and entered the Army in January 2006 to support his family and receive financial backing for college, his father said.
"He wasn't asking anybody for help," Wilkey Sr. said. "He was trying to take care of himself and his kids. ... I told him just to sit back and get unemployment for a month or two and be back to work. He chose to join the Army."
"His passion was nature. If he had to pick where he was going to live, he would've picked a cabin in the middle of the woods with a pond nearby," Margaret Wilkey said.
Wilkey Sr. learned of his son's death late Monday morning after an Army contingent arrived at his workplace, Plastic Components in Elkhart. His wife, Margaret, picked him up from work, and the family spent the day trying to cope with the news, he said.
He last spoke with David Jr. on Saturday, when the young soldier told his father he might not be able to call him on Father's Day from Iraq but would call when possible... a call that now will never come.
The soldier's uncle Wayne McDonald often went hunting with nephew "D" in Michigan's White Pigeon area or Upper Peninsula.
"It's going to be hard this fall," McDonald said. "It's going to be real hard."
David A. Wilkey Jr. 'died June 18 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an IED detonated near his unit June 17 in Baghdad'
David Wilkey laid to rest
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"I didn't believe in the war, but I supported it because he was in it. That's what moms do." |
ERIC L. SNELL, died June 18, 2007, aged 35
LARRY PARKS JR., died June 18, 2007, aged 24
JACOB T. TRACY, died June 18, 2007, aged 20
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"It's tough right now because I know he wanted to do a lot of things with me when he got back." |
FRANK M. SANDOVAL, died June 18, 2007, aged 27
Frank Michael Sandoval was the captain of his high school wrestling team and a big fan of Superman. He joined the Army in wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was in his second tour in Iraq and working as a member of a hand-picked team training Iraqi soldiers when he was badly wounded by an improvised explosive device on Nov. 28, 2005.
At first, his family was told he might not survive 24 hours. If he did, he might never walk or see. doctors said.
But Sandoval, who was awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, beat those odds.
Last year, when he arrived in Palo Alto, home to one the VA's four polytrauma units, Sandoval began what would be nine months of painstaking rehabilitation to re-learn how to perform the simplest of tasks -- including walking, speaking and even swallowing.
Constantly by his side was Michelle, 22, who sometimes was accompanied by their now 5-year-old daughter Joelena. Sandoval had both of their names tattooed over his heart.
The Sandovals returned to Palo Alto earlier this month from their home in Yuma so Frank could have surgery to implant an artificial "bone flap" -- a prosthesis that would replace the portion of his skull lost in the November 2005 explosion.
Medically, adding the "flap" was important to protect the exposed portion of Sandoval's brain. But it also was important to his self-image. He didn't like having to wear a helmet, even though Michelle constantly told him that it didn't matter one bit to her.
He was in an upbeat mood. He was recovering well from a broken left femur suffered in an October fall. He also was much more mentally engaged, taking a more active part in conversations, although his speech could still be difficult to understand.
Both Michelle and Frank were looking ahead, not behind. He was in the process of being medically retired from the Army. They had just celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary.
Sandoval was excited, but nervous about this next step in his recovery.
"I'm worried that I won't wake up," he said the day before the surgery.
Initially, the June 12 surgery appeared to have been a success. But when he did not awaken soon after the operation, a CT scan revealed massive swelling of the brain. Sandoval immediately underwent a second surgery to remove the flap, as well as another portion of his skull, to relieve the pressure.
Neurological testing Sunday and Monday found no brain activity. Family members, who had gathered in Palo Alto, were told by surgeon Stephen Skirboll that there was no chance of recovery.
Sgt. Frank Sandoval was declared brain dead from complications following surgery.
His family made the decision to keep Sandoval, 27, on a ventilator until seven of his organs could be harvested for donation. He remained on the ventilator as family members awaited a transplant team.
"Frankie would have liked knowing that he had helped other people," said his father, Ricky Sandoval.
"I really hope someone can use his heart," his wife, Michelle, said through tears. "And if another man can love a woman as much as he loved me, that would make me very happy."
Frank M. Sandoval 'died June 18 in Palo Alto, Ca., of wounds sustained when his unit was attacked by insurgents using small arms fire Nov. 28, 2005'
Frank Sandoval laid to rest
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"My brother is very sick right now. He's in the hospital. I discussed it with the doctors, and they don't think he can handle it. So we haven't told him." |
WARD (DARRYL W.) LINDER, died June 19, 2007, aged 23
JOSHUA S. MODGLING, died June 19, 2007, aged 22
WILLIAM A. ZAPFE, died June 19, 2007, aged 35
STEPHEN J. WILSON, died June 20, 2007, aged 28
DARREN P. HUBBELL, died June 20, 2007, aged 38
DJ (DAVID J.) BENTZ, died June 20, 2007, aged 20
JOE G. CHARFAUROS JR., died June 20, 2007, aged 33
SID BROOKSHIRE, died June 20, 2007, aged 36
SHAWN P. MARTIN, died June 20, 2007, aged 30
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"You looked at him from a distance, he was a tough guy. As soon as you talked to him, you saw how sweet he was." |
ALPHONSO J. MONTENEGRO II, died June 21, 2007, aged 22
Sgt. Alphonso Montenegro of Far Rockaway was a week from completing his three-year enlistment last June when the Army informed him he was not going home after all.
"He had all his stuff packed," his mother, Sandra Montenegro, recalled yesterday. "They told him he couldn't come because he was going to Iraq."
Her son had served one tour in Iraq in 2004 when he was just 19, having graduated from Far Rockaway High School and enlisting with the hope of going on to college afterward. He was just turning 21 and making ready to head home to take the next step in his dream of going into medicine when he was instead deployed for a second tour in Iraq.
"He was so upset because they told him he had to do another year," the mother recalled.
The son was allowed to come home on December 1st and he had not forgotten his dream to study medicine.
"He had so many plans," his mother later said.
He had hoped to stay for the holidays, but he was ordered back on December 19th. He usually did not like to have his picture taken, but this time he made a request before he headed back to war.
"He told me he wanted a picture of us together," she recalled.
He also said something that would come back to her.
"He said, 'Ma, they're going to come to you when something bad happens,'" she remembered.
On Christmas, he was in Iraq. He was still there on Mother's Day, when he made sure to call her and arrange for flowers to be delivered. He called again on June 9, his 22nd birthday. He was thrilled that a package from home had arrived that very day.
"Candy and potato chips," the mother said. "He called to say thank you. He was so happy."
He may have been a solider on his second combat tour, but she still called him "Fofo," as she had since he was a tyke.
"When he was little, he couldn't say 'Alphonso,' He said, 'Fofo,' so we kept that name for him forever," she later explained.
Now, her Fofo was in Iraq and neither one wanted to get off the phone for fear of never hearing each other's voice again.
"He doesn't like to hang up and I don't like to hang up," the mother later said. "I always think this is going to be the last time."
When they could stay on the line no longer, they said some final words.
"I love you," she said.
"I love you," he said.
"I am so proud of you," she said.
"I love you and I miss you and I am going to see you soon," he said.
Thirteen days later, the mother awoke at 6 a.m. with a horrifying dream that her son was dead.
"I couldn't stop crying," she said. "I went to work crying."
She was at her job as a dental assistant when she got a call.
"My nephew called and said I need to come home," she recalled.
She knew the soldiers would be there to tell her the worst when she arrived home. Her son and four other soldiers had been killed the day before.
"They told me bomb, no, not bomb, how do you say?" she recalled yesterday.
"IED?" a reporter asked.
"Yes, that's what killed my baby," she said.
She had her son when she was just 15 and he had helped her raise her four other children.
At his funeral, Sandra Montenegro's hand never strayed far from his flag-draped casket.
Two more medals were awarded posthumously, a Purple Heart for wounds received and a Bronze Star for bravery.
When presenting the medals to Montenegro's mother, Brig. Gen. Arthur Bartell called the fallen Montenegro a hero.
But it wasn't wartime service that made Montenegro a hero to his sister Jennifer. It was his character that did the trick. Jennifer described her brother as a man who gave his all for his family.
"He was so special. Since our dad left, he took it upon himself to be responsible and teach us what we're supposed to do. He taught the right values," she said. "To me he was my father. He always took care of me, he took care of everyone and especially our mom."
At the funeral, a man dressed all in black, whom authorities identified as Montenegro's birth father, tried to retrieve the medals from Sandra Montenegro, which started an altercation.
Jennifer Montenegro said the fight was over issues much deeper than the possession of medals. She said the fight stemmed from her father, Alphonso J. Montenegro Sr., abandoning their family 17 years ago.
She said he only surfaced after news of her brother's death was first reported.
The altercation was quickly brought under control as local authorities stepped in.Backup was called for the graveside service held at Evergreen Cemetery. About half a dozen units from both the Sheriff's department and Wilson Police Department responded.
No arrests were made.
The graveside service, including the presentation of the flag, was completed without any additional incident.
The man in black was kept about 200 yards from the grave.
Alphonso J. Montenegro II dies 'of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle'
Alphonso Montenegro laid to rest
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"He was just doing his job, but he was ready to come home. Like everyone over there, he got sick of it real fast." |
THOMAS R. LEEMHUIS, died June 21, 2007, aged 23
ANTHONDY D. HEBERT, died June 21, 2007, aged 19
RYAN M. WOOD, died June 21, 2007, aged 22
DANIEL J. AGAMI, died June 21, 2007, aged 25
RAYMOND N. SPENCER JR., died June 21, 2007, aged 23
KAREN N. CLIFTON, died June 21, 2007, aged 22
JERIMIAH J. VEITCH, died June 21, 2007, aged 21
DOMINIC N. RODRIGUEZ, died June 22, 2007, aged 23
CARTER A. GAMBLE, died June 22, 2007, aged 24
MICHAEL J. MONTPETIT, died June 22, 2007, aged 31
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"I had a nephew killed in Iraq and I'm not sure why. How does someone explain to his 2-year-old daughter why she doesn't have a dad?" |
JOEL A. DAHL, died June 23, 2007, aged 21
Army Cpl. Joel Dahl fought two wars: the one to keep his biological family together in whatever construct he could; the other in Iraq.
The first was driven by Dahl's desperate need to cobble together at least a semblance of family from the emotional rubble he had been born into.
The second one killed him.
Patti Harris-Thompson and her husband, Jerry Thompson, knew his battles better than most. They knew him as much as he would let them in the three teen years he was their foster son.
The Thompsons rescued Dahl in March 2002 when he was 16 and his mother and her husband du jour abandoned him and his younger siblings, Chrystal, Nick, Angel and 3-month-old Patti.
All but Patti called the Thompsons' Los Lunas abode "home," at least for awhile.
It hadn't been the first time the children came into foster care, not the first time Joel assumed the heavy role of patriarch.
"He was always the one who kept those kids together," said Harris-Thompson, a foster mom for 14 years. "He was the one who made sure they got to school, even if that meant he had to miss school to take care of them. He took that role so seriously."
Even in the Thompson home, it was a role Dahl found hard to relinquish.
"We had to keep telling him, Joel, you're allowed to be a kid now," Thompson said. "But it was like, 'You don't know my family like I know my family.' "
Harris-Thompson recalled times Dahl and his best friend, Robbie, would dress as "Army guys" and conduct missions in the ragged meadows outside Los Lunas.
One night, Dahl and his friend armed themselves with flashlights and gas masks and struck out for the abandoned Cypress Gardens home where his family had lived, left just as it was the day the state Children, Youth and Families Department had pulled the children into foster care.
"The kids always wanted to get their stuff -- wrestling trophies, photo albums, school papers," Harris-Thompson said. "But the state never got it together to let them. So Joel did it himself."
Neighbors called police. But the officers, she said, understood.
"They told Joel, 'OK, get what you need,' " she said. "And he got baby books, photos. He got stuff for everybody. Right or wrong, he did it. He came back with a footlocker of stuff."
They grieve now for him, their brief son, killed by small-arms fire five days before his wife gave birth to their first baby, a son - five days before he could experience a family, at last, of his own making.
A son born four days before Joel Dahl, 21, was to return from his first deployment to Iraq.
Joel A. Dahl dies 'of wounds sustained when his unit was attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire'
Joel Dahl remembered
Joel Dahl laid to rest
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"He was very tired, he was exhausted. We believe that's why we lost him." |
SHANE M. STINSON, died June 23, 2007, aged 23
CHRIS DAVIS, died June 23, 2007, aged 35
MICHAEL D. MOODY JR., died June 23, 2007, aged 31
DEREK A. CALHOUN, died June 23, 2007, aged 23
JIMY M. MALONE, died June 23, 2007, aged 23
JOEL A. HOUSE, died June 23, 2007, aged 22
DANIEL P. RIORDAN, died June 23, 2007, aged 24
WILLIAM E. BROWN, died June 23, 2007, aged 25
JASON D. NATHAN, died June 23, 2007, aged 22
JOSEPH P. KENNY, died June 23, 2007, aged 20
EEKER (ERIC C.) PALMER, died June 24, 2007, aged 21
HENRY G. BYRD III, died June 24, 2007, aged 20
ANDRE CRAIG JR., died June 25, 2007, aged 24
TRISTA L. MORETTI, died June 25, 2007, aged 27
NATHAN L. WINDER, died June 26, 2007, aged 32
DEREK C. DIXON, died June 26, 2007, aged 20
DANIEL A. NEWSOME, died June 27, 2007, aged 27
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"President Bush should come here and look this young widow in the eyes and explain to her the rationale for being in Iraq, because I sure can't. There's a cost behind our being there. And that cost can be seen in her eyes." |
CORY F. HILTZ, died June 28, 2007, aged 20
The message Wayne Hiltz left on the answering machine at his Sacramento-area home is quiet and heartbreaking.
"Deb and I are on our way to Southern California to lay our son to rest."
A lifelong resident, Cory was a graduate of Lutheran High School of La Verne. He attended Citrus College before joining the Army in February 2006.
His father, a retired Pasadena deputy police chief, said what people will remember most about Cory is his heart.
The elder Hiltz remembers Cory watching a nature show on television when he was a young boy. When a small animal was attacked by a larger one, he began to cry.
"He said 'Dad, why is he hurting him? He didn't do anything,"' he said. "We wondered what he would come back from Iraq like and he came back with a bigger heart than before. He wasn't jaded by the war."
Cory had been in Iraq for eight months when they extended his tour of duty until January. In return, he received three weeks leave.
On May 30, his parents picked him up at the airport.
"Deep into the drive home there was a quiet period and I looked over and saw he was smiling," his father said. "I said 'What's that for?' And he said 'I love living in the U.S."'
When he was about to return to Iraq, Cory and his father talked about the war.
"He was not happy about it, but he said 'Dad, I made a commitment to my country. I don't want to go back. But I made a commitment and I'm going to fulfill my obligation.' Ten days later he was dead."
Cory and the four others killed were based with the Army's 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division in Fort Carson, Colo.
Also killed were Sgt. Shin W. Kim, 23, of Fullerton; Sgt. Michael J. Martinez, 24, of Chula Vista; Sgt. Giann C. Joya Mendoza of North Hollywood; and Spc. Dustin L. Workman II, 19, of Greenwood, Neb.
A bunkmate of Cory's in Iraq was one of many leaving messages of condolence on his MySpace page.
"Hiltz," he wrote, "man you are sorely missed, the room is like a graveyard. They packed up all of your stuff and now I have your empty bed as a reminder.
"We all miss you here, you made us laugh so much. Keep Workman out of trouble up there."
Cory F. Hiltz dies 'of wounds sustained when his unit was attacked in Baghdad by insurgents using improvised explosive devices'
Cory Hiltz honored by community
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"He was supposed to come home next Thursday." |
DUSTIN L. WORKMAN II, died June 28, 2007, aged 19
GIANN C. JOYA MENDOZA, died June 28, 2007, aged 27
SHIN W. KIM, died June 28, 2007, aged 23
JAMES L. ADAIR, died June 28, 2007, aged 26
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"He said he loved me and he was looking forward to coming home. I told him to mail me some pictures and he said, `Ah. Dad, I'll be home in a few weeks.' " |
WILLIAM W. CROW JR., died June 28, 2007, aged 28
Michelle Crow picked up the phone at midnight last Thursday and heard her husband's voice.
"You asleep?" Will Crow asked from halfway around the world in Baghdad.
No, she said.
On his third deployment to Iraq, Will was leaving on a mission, and like all of his other departures, he called first. She told him she was forgetting what it felt like to be held.
"Six more weeks," he told her. "Six more weeks, baby."
On June 28, when Crow's 2nd Platoon was midway between its outpost and the main base at 6:48 a.m. and an IED exploded so loudly that it was heard at the outpost and on the base, where it rattled Maj. Brent Cummings's door, waking him up.
Quickly, Cummings was on the phone to Capt. Ricky Taylor , who was at the outpost, listening on the radio.
"What's it look like?" Cummings would recall asking.
"Sir, it's bad," Taylor said. "I can hear screaming in the background."
That turned out to be a soldier in the second Humvee of the convoy whose right arm had been severed and was screaming, "My arm, my arm!" He would survive.
But near him, saying nothing at all, was Sgt. William W. Crow Jr., 28, husband and father of four. He had been wearing body armor, eye protection, ear protection, a throat protector, a groin protector, heat-resistant gloves and his helmet. He had been sitting in the right rear seat of a $119,000, up-armor Humvee, behind a thick glass window and a 400-pound door. When the bomb, consisting of parts costing less than $100, exploded, it turned a copper disc with a circumference of perhaps six inches into a huge bullet that penetrated the right rear door of the Humvee as if it were nothing more than a door on one of Baghdad's flimsy, decaying taxis.
It was around 9 p.m. the next day when Kathryn Modini drove up to her apartment, tired from driving all day from North Carolina. She had seen police cars in the neighborhood but didn't think much of it, thinking it was part of a regular patrol.
She went inside and picked up the phone to call a neighbor when someone knocked on the door.
When she opened it, she saw two Army officers.
"I slammed the door and threw myself to the floor," she said.
From taking care of a frail mother to taking in stepchildren as his own, Will Crow had a "big heart," according to his wife and mother.
He grew up in Belleview, a small town in central Florida. He was a "punk," said Kathy Mondini, Will's mom. Baggy pants and skateboards were part of his childhood, but as Will's stature grew, so did his kindness toward his mom.
"I'm a little petite thing, and he used to pick me up and swing me around," Mondini said.
She said she has dealt with severe depression for years, and Will was her "heart line," a man who gave bear hugs that took the wind out of you.
"I know I've got God ... " she said, trailing off. "But how do I live without Will?"
Fresh from high school and wanting to explore, Will hitchhiked to Ohio. He soon found the romantic idea didn't match up with reality, and he signed up for the Army.
After returning from a tour in Korea, Will went out with some friends in Junction City in late 2002. There he met a girl named Michelle. On the tail end of a divorce, Michelle said she hadn't laughed in a long time.
"But he just cracked me up," Michelle said. "He was funny with a good heart."
She almost missed Will's marriage proposal because of that sense of humor. She received a phone call from him one day while she was helping a friend obtain a marriage license. When Michelle told him what she was doing, he said, "You should get one of those for us."
"I just thought he was kidding," Michelle said.
He wasn't.
She already had two kids, and Will "accepted them like his own." They had two daughters together, too, though he didn't get to see either of their births.
Will called home every chance he got: When he woke up. Before he went to bed. Prior to a mission. Upon return from a mission. His wife would tell him about the "zoo" at home where they housed dogs, rats, turtles and doves. She told him she named the dog Rustamiyah, after the operating base in Iraq.
During her phone call with Will two days before his death, Michelle said they talked about his return home in six weeks. Oh, how they would enjoy that time together. They would lay around and play Xbox video games. They could go to the water park, maybe even venture out to Milford Lake and build huge sand castles.
Then Mondini remembers one of the last times she talked with her son.
"He said: 'It's all different now. We're fighting ghosts,' " she said.
Will Crow remembered
William W. Crow dies 'of wounds sustained when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device'
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"It's something we all kind of lose sight of when we're back home, but it's a reminder of how special these kids are, how big their hearts are and how determined they are to make a difference." |
ROBB L. ROLFING, died June 30, 2007, aged 29
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"They were once little boys, with all of life ahead of them." |