Remember Our Heroes
Army Cpl. Juan C. Cabral Banuelos, 25, of Emporia, Kan.
Cpl. Banuelos was assigned to Company A, 4th Forward Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Division (Mech), Fort Hood, Texas; killed Jan. 31 when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Kirkuk, Iraq.
Kansan among three soldiers killed in explosion in Iraq
Associated Press
EMPORIA, Kan. — A Kansan was one of three soldiers killed in an explosion in Iraq, the Defense Department said.
The department identified the dead as Cpl. Juan Carlos Cabral Banuelos, 25, who had moved to Emporia from Utah while a teenager; Sgt. Eliu Miersandoval, 27, of San Clemente, Calif., and Pfc. Holly McGeogh, 19, of Taylor, Mich. It said they died Jan. 31 when an improvised explosive device hit their vehicle in a convoy near Kirkuk.
The three were assigned to Company A, 4th Forward Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, from Fort Hood, Texas.
A cousin, Marisol Gomez, said Cabral was a native of Jeres, Mexico who spent most of his childhood in Riverdale, Utah, moving to Emporia with his family as a teenager and graduating from high school there.
She said he was a popular student in high school who dreamed of enlisting in the Army after graduation. He became an Army mechanic and was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas before being sent to Iraq.
Gomez said he will be buried in Utah, where most of his family lives.
An aunt, Laura Banuelos, said that during a visit last fall Cabral talked about his pride in serving his country.
“He did tell us, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be OK,”’ she said. “His last words were, ‘You guys always have to remember that I’m doing something I wanted to do. I’m serving my country, and I’m proud of it.’ It’s hard for us, but we know he died doing something he enjoyed.”
A sister, Rocio Cabral of Wichita, said he enlisted to improve his life and himself.
“He always encouraged us to do more in our lives and said that if we really wanted to do something, if we put our head into it, we could do it — because he did it.”
Shortly after joining the Army, Cabral returned to Utah and reunited with Anita, a girlfriend when he lived there. Rocia Cabral said that when he moved to Emporia he had promised to marry Anita and eventually did. He adopted her son, Fabian, now 7, and in August 2002 the couple had another son, Manuel. The family had lived in Texas while Cabral was stationed at Fort Hood.
Anita Cabral, 24, told the Standard-Examiner of Ogden, Utah, that she met her husband-to-be when she was a young child. The pair married in September 1998, a few months after Cabral enlisted.
“He was proud of his boys, proud of his family ... I’m going to go back to Utah and raise my boys like he wanted me to,” she said.
She said her husband loved to tinker, especially on his 1963 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport. That love of cars helped make him a light-truck mechanic in the military.
Rocio Cabral said her brother was a fun-loving, outgoing man.
“He was a very happy person — always smiling, making funny faces, sticking out his tongue, doing something to make us laugh,” she said. “Where he was, everybody was happy.”
Soldier killed in Iraq will be buried Wednesday
SOUTH OGDEN, Utah — Funeral services are planned Feb. 11 for a soldier killed in an explosion in Iraq.
Juan Carlos Cabral Banuelos, will be posthumously awarded a Bronze Star, a second Purple Heart and a promotion to sergeant at a burial ceremony at Washington Heights Memorial Park in South Ogden. That will precede the 10 a.m. funeral at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Ogden.
His mother, who has been jailed since Jan. 4 on methamphetamine and driving without a license charges, will be allowed to attend her son’s funeral. A judge agreed to let Angela Cabral attend both a Tuesday memorial service Tuesday and the funeral.
Juan Cabral was born in Jerez, Zacatecas, Mexico, on Sept. 11, 1978, and moved to Ogden with his family a year later. He attended Ogden High School before moving to Emporia, Kan., with his mother during his junior year, after his parents had divorced.
He joined the U.S. Army soon after graduation. Cabral, who had been in Iraq since April 4 as a mechanic with Company A, 4th Forward Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas, was scheduled to return home in about a month.
A Mexican national, the 25-year-old was also set to become a U.S. citizen in April.
Cabral was among three soldiers killed Jan. 31 when their vehicle struck a homemade explosive device near the northern city of Kirkuk.
He leaves behind his wife, Anita, and two young sons, ages 7 and 18 months old. They arrived in Utah from Texas on Friday.
— Associated Press
Army Cpl. Juan C. Cabral Banuelos was killed in action on 01/31/04.
Saturday, January 31, 2004
Sunday, January 25, 2004
Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda
Remember Our Heroes
Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda, 29, of Bremer, Wash
SSgt. Bunda was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry, based at Fort Lewis, Wash.; killed Jan. 25 when his boat capsized during a patrol on the Tigris River. Bunda was originally listed as duty status whereabouts unknown. His remains were recovered Feb. 10.
Missing soldier’s wife struggles to answer children’s questions
Associated Press
BREMERTON, Wash — Michele Bunda does her best to answer her children’s questions about their father, Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda, missing since Sunday in Iraq.
“Our 3-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter are aware of what is going on and they are sad, but I don’t think they understand yet,” she told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at the family’s home Tuesday night.
“I told my daughter, ‘Papa is missing, and they can’t find him,’ and she says, ‘Why?”’ Bunda said. “I told her, ‘I don’t know, we’ll just pray that he’s OK.’
“But then she asks, ‘Why is Poppa in the Army? Why can’t he do something else like other children’s fathers?”’
Christopher Bunda, 29, assigned to the Stryker brigade in the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry, at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, “is proud to be in the Army,” his wife said.
The Bundas grew up in the Philippines and bought their current home in March.
“He likes to do so much around the house,” Michele Bunda said. “He remodeled one of the floors, made it wood after we bought the house and did all the cement work in the back yard.”
Christopher Bunda was identified Tuesday by the Pentagon as missing in the Tigris River near Mosul.
Bunda was one of four Stryker brigade soldiers on a river patrol with Iraqi police when the police boat capsized Sunday. The other three U.S. soldiers reached shore but three Iraqi police officers also were listed as missing in the swift-flowing, chilly waters.
Two U.S. soldiers in an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter that crashed while helping in the search for Bunda also are listed as missing — 1st Lt. Adam G. Mooney, 28, of Cambridge, Md., and Chief Warrant Officer Patrick D. Dorff, 32, of Minnesota, both from the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 10th Mountain Division, at Fort Drum, N.Y.
The cause of the crash and capsizing were under investigation, but U.S. officials have said they do not believe hostile action was involved.
“I’m still hoping. I feel he’s still alive. Sometimes you just have that feeling,” Michele Bunda said. “I’m very tired from the waiting, holding that little bit of hope that he will show up.”
Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda was killed in action on 01/25/04.
Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda, 29, of Bremer, Wash
SSgt. Bunda was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry, based at Fort Lewis, Wash.; killed Jan. 25 when his boat capsized during a patrol on the Tigris River. Bunda was originally listed as duty status whereabouts unknown. His remains were recovered Feb. 10.
Missing soldier’s wife struggles to answer children’s questions
Associated Press
BREMERTON, Wash — Michele Bunda does her best to answer her children’s questions about their father, Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda, missing since Sunday in Iraq.
“Our 3-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter are aware of what is going on and they are sad, but I don’t think they understand yet,” she told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at the family’s home Tuesday night.
“I told my daughter, ‘Papa is missing, and they can’t find him,’ and she says, ‘Why?”’ Bunda said. “I told her, ‘I don’t know, we’ll just pray that he’s OK.’
“But then she asks, ‘Why is Poppa in the Army? Why can’t he do something else like other children’s fathers?”’
Christopher Bunda, 29, assigned to the Stryker brigade in the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry, at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, “is proud to be in the Army,” his wife said.
The Bundas grew up in the Philippines and bought their current home in March.
“He likes to do so much around the house,” Michele Bunda said. “He remodeled one of the floors, made it wood after we bought the house and did all the cement work in the back yard.”
Christopher Bunda was identified Tuesday by the Pentagon as missing in the Tigris River near Mosul.
Bunda was one of four Stryker brigade soldiers on a river patrol with Iraqi police when the police boat capsized Sunday. The other three U.S. soldiers reached shore but three Iraqi police officers also were listed as missing in the swift-flowing, chilly waters.
Two U.S. soldiers in an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter that crashed while helping in the search for Bunda also are listed as missing — 1st Lt. Adam G. Mooney, 28, of Cambridge, Md., and Chief Warrant Officer Patrick D. Dorff, 32, of Minnesota, both from the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 10th Mountain Division, at Fort Drum, N.Y.
The cause of the crash and capsizing were under investigation, but U.S. officials have said they do not believe hostile action was involved.
“I’m still hoping. I feel he’s still alive. Sometimes you just have that feeling,” Michele Bunda said. “I’m very tired from the waiting, holding that little bit of hope that he will show up.”
Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda was killed in action on 01/25/04.
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Army Pfc. Ervin Dervishi
Remember Our Heroes
Army Pfc. Ervin Dervishi, 21, Fort Worth, Texas
Pfc. Dervishi was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas; died Jan. 24 when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the Bradley Fighting Vehicle in which he was traveling on combat patrol in Baji, Iraq. He was evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital where he later died.
Soldier from North Texas dies in Iraq
Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas — A soldier from North Texas who died in a grenade attack had wanted to pursue a law enforcement career, relatives say.
Pfc. Ervin Dervishi, who was killed on Saturday, became a U.S. citizen only after being inducted into the Army. The victim was identified on Monday.
Dervishi, 21, came to the United States from his homeland of Albania and joined the military because he decided it would be the best way to train for a career in law enforcement, said a spokeswoman for his family.
Attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Bradley Fighting Vehicle in which the Fort Hood soldier was riding in Baji. Dervishi died of his injuries after being evacuated to a combat support hospital.
Military officials were investigating the attack.
The Fort Worth man’s parents spent Monday evening with a military officer, planning their son’s funeral and completing paperwork, said friends.
“It’s very hard,” Gzim Haliti, 17, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Tuesday’s editions. “He was one of the best people you could meet. He wanted to be in the military and then be a police officer.”
He said Dervishi’s deployment was extended until April after the soldier had expected to return home in November.
Dervishi was present during the capture of Saddam Hussein, said friends.
They said the soldier was a 2002 graduate of Western Hills High School, where he had played soccer. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment.
Saimir Dervishi, the soldier’s brother, said his family knew something would happen to him.
“My dad felt it and I felt it. My mom felt it,” said Saimir Dervishi. “ We knew something was going to come up anytime. We just didn’t know it was going to happen this soon.”
In 1999, the Dervishis came to the United States after winning an immigration lottery, said Kim Beebe, the family’s U.S. sponsor. They lived in Waxahachie for three years before moving to Fort Worth.
In Waxahachie, the soldier was named the soccer team’s most valuable player in 2001.
“He grew up under communism and wanted something better and something different for his life,” Beebe said. “His whole point was to keep peace.”
Army Pfc. Ervin Dervishi was killed in action on 01/24/04.
Army Pfc. Ervin Dervishi, 21, Fort Worth, Texas
Pfc. Dervishi was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas; died Jan. 24 when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the Bradley Fighting Vehicle in which he was traveling on combat patrol in Baji, Iraq. He was evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital where he later died.
Soldier from North Texas dies in Iraq
Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas — A soldier from North Texas who died in a grenade attack had wanted to pursue a law enforcement career, relatives say.
Pfc. Ervin Dervishi, who was killed on Saturday, became a U.S. citizen only after being inducted into the Army. The victim was identified on Monday.
Dervishi, 21, came to the United States from his homeland of Albania and joined the military because he decided it would be the best way to train for a career in law enforcement, said a spokeswoman for his family.
Attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Bradley Fighting Vehicle in which the Fort Hood soldier was riding in Baji. Dervishi died of his injuries after being evacuated to a combat support hospital.
Military officials were investigating the attack.
The Fort Worth man’s parents spent Monday evening with a military officer, planning their son’s funeral and completing paperwork, said friends.
“It’s very hard,” Gzim Haliti, 17, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Tuesday’s editions. “He was one of the best people you could meet. He wanted to be in the military and then be a police officer.”
He said Dervishi’s deployment was extended until April after the soldier had expected to return home in November.
Dervishi was present during the capture of Saddam Hussein, said friends.
They said the soldier was a 2002 graduate of Western Hills High School, where he had played soccer. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment.
Saimir Dervishi, the soldier’s brother, said his family knew something would happen to him.
“My dad felt it and I felt it. My mom felt it,” said Saimir Dervishi. “ We knew something was going to come up anytime. We just didn’t know it was going to happen this soon.”
In 1999, the Dervishis came to the United States after winning an immigration lottery, said Kim Beebe, the family’s U.S. sponsor. They lived in Waxahachie for three years before moving to Fort Worth.
In Waxahachie, the soldier was named the soccer team’s most valuable player in 2001.
“He grew up under communism and wanted something better and something different for his life,” Beebe said. “His whole point was to keep peace.”
Army Pfc. Ervin Dervishi was killed in action on 01/24/04.
Army Specialist William R. Sturges Jr.
Remember Our Heroes
Army Specialist William R. Sturges Jr., 24, of Spring Church, Pa.
Spc. Sturges was assigned to Company B, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, Fort Hood Texas; attached to Task Force All American; killed Jan. 24 when a vehicle-based improvised explosive device detonated in Khalidiyah, Iraq.
Soldier killed in Iraq remembered as loving husband, father
Associated Press
APOLLO, Pa. — A 24-year-old soldier killed in Iraq was remembered by family and friends Wednesday as a loving husband and father.
Army Spc. William R. Sturges Jr., of Spring City, was killed Jan. 24 when a car bomb exploded next to his Humvee.
Sturges was an indirect fire infantryman with the 1st Cavalry Division’s Company B, 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment, while his wife, Spc. Deida Sturges, was also serving in Iraq as an Army medic with the 21st Combat Support Hospital.
During the ceremony at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Apollo, a single drummer played and Deida Sturges received her husband’s posthumous military honors, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
“I want you to remember that one single act of violence can end a life but it cannot conquer what a life stood for,” said the Rev. Nichole Torbitzky, pastor of the nearby First Reformed Church of the United Church of Christ in Vandergrift. “We remember together that his life had moments of delight and happiness, caring and friendship, sharing and love. Let us never forget this.”
Sturges, a 1998 graduate of Lenape High School who enlisted in the Army that year, was deployed to Iraq in September 2003, shortly after his wife shipped out.
Deida Sturges last heard from her husband a week before his death in an e-mail.
The couple has a 16-month-old son and William Sturges also has a 4-year-old son.
PITTSBURGH — A soldier whose wife is an Army medic was among three killed when a car bomb exploded at a U.S. checkpoint west of Baghdad.
Spc. William R. Sturges Jr., 24, of Spring City, died in the explosion, which happened near a bridge on the Euphrates River in Khaldiyah, the U.S. command said.
Sturges, an indirect fire infantryman with the 1st Cavalry Division’s Company B, 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment, was serving in Iraq at the same time as his wife, Spc. Deida Sturges, an Army medic with the 21st Combat Support Hospital.
Deida Sturges said she last heard from her husband a week before his death in an e-mail.
In the e-mail, he asked her about where they should go when they re-enlisted, Deida Sturges told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He said he loved me and talk to you later,” Deida Sturges told the newspaper.
The couple met at a vocational school in Armstrong County, about 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, and married in 2000. They have a 16-month-old son and William Sturges also has a 4-year-old son.
Deida Sturges was already in the Army, while William Sturges transferred from the National Guard into the Army. His mother, Linda Sturges, said her son likely joined the military because of his selflessness.
“I know Bill was always one to protect people. He was always a caring person,” she said.
The couple arrived at Fort Hood, Texas, in June 2003 and were deployed separately to Iraq.
Deida Sturges, whose unit was expected to return this week, was returning to western Pennsylvania to plan her husband’s funeral and to rejoin their son, Gabriel, who was being cared for by relatives.
Army Specialist William R. Sturges Jr. was killed in action on 01/24/04.
Army Specialist William R. Sturges Jr., 24, of Spring Church, Pa.
Spc. Sturges was assigned to Company B, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, Fort Hood Texas; attached to Task Force All American; killed Jan. 24 when a vehicle-based improvised explosive device detonated in Khalidiyah, Iraq.
Soldier killed in Iraq remembered as loving husband, father
Associated Press
APOLLO, Pa. — A 24-year-old soldier killed in Iraq was remembered by family and friends Wednesday as a loving husband and father.
Army Spc. William R. Sturges Jr., of Spring City, was killed Jan. 24 when a car bomb exploded next to his Humvee.
Sturges was an indirect fire infantryman with the 1st Cavalry Division’s Company B, 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment, while his wife, Spc. Deida Sturges, was also serving in Iraq as an Army medic with the 21st Combat Support Hospital.
During the ceremony at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Apollo, a single drummer played and Deida Sturges received her husband’s posthumous military honors, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
“I want you to remember that one single act of violence can end a life but it cannot conquer what a life stood for,” said the Rev. Nichole Torbitzky, pastor of the nearby First Reformed Church of the United Church of Christ in Vandergrift. “We remember together that his life had moments of delight and happiness, caring and friendship, sharing and love. Let us never forget this.”
Sturges, a 1998 graduate of Lenape High School who enlisted in the Army that year, was deployed to Iraq in September 2003, shortly after his wife shipped out.
Deida Sturges last heard from her husband a week before his death in an e-mail.
The couple has a 16-month-old son and William Sturges also has a 4-year-old son.
PITTSBURGH — A soldier whose wife is an Army medic was among three killed when a car bomb exploded at a U.S. checkpoint west of Baghdad.
Spc. William R. Sturges Jr., 24, of Spring City, died in the explosion, which happened near a bridge on the Euphrates River in Khaldiyah, the U.S. command said.
Sturges, an indirect fire infantryman with the 1st Cavalry Division’s Company B, 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment, was serving in Iraq at the same time as his wife, Spc. Deida Sturges, an Army medic with the 21st Combat Support Hospital.
Deida Sturges said she last heard from her husband a week before his death in an e-mail.
In the e-mail, he asked her about where they should go when they re-enlisted, Deida Sturges told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He said he loved me and talk to you later,” Deida Sturges told the newspaper.
The couple met at a vocational school in Armstrong County, about 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, and married in 2000. They have a 16-month-old son and William Sturges also has a 4-year-old son.
Deida Sturges was already in the Army, while William Sturges transferred from the National Guard into the Army. His mother, Linda Sturges, said her son likely joined the military because of his selflessness.
“I know Bill was always one to protect people. He was always a caring person,” she said.
The couple arrived at Fort Hood, Texas, in June 2003 and were deployed separately to Iraq.
Deida Sturges, whose unit was expected to return this week, was returning to western Pennsylvania to plan her husband’s funeral and to rejoin their son, Gabriel, who was being cared for by relatives.
Army Specialist William R. Sturges Jr. was killed in action on 01/24/04.
Friday, January 23, 2004
Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael T. Blaise
Remember Our Heroes
Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael T. Blaise, 29, of Tennessee
CWO2 Blaise was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 101st Aviation Brigade, based at Fort Campbell, Ky.; killed Jan. 23, 2004 when his OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter crashed on its way back from a combat mission near Mosul in northern Iraq.
Chief Warrant Officer Michael T. Blaise loved to fly so much that he would e-mail pictures of the inside and outside of his helicopter to his family.
“He was doing what he wanted to do, and he loved it,” said his stepmother, Cheryl Blaise. “He told my husband that if anything happened, don’t feel bad: ‘I’m doing what I want to do.’”
Blaise, 29, died Jan. 23 when his helicopter crashed on its way back from a combat mission near Mosul, Iraq. He was based at Fort Campbell, Ky. He graduated from high school in Macon, Mo., in 1993 and attended technical school for a year before joining the Army, which he always wanted to do, said his father, Terry. Blaise felt strongly about serving in Iraq, and said Iraqis often thanked him for his service. Blaise’s wife, Kate, is an Army captain who was serving at the same base in Iraq.
Funeral services are still pending in the hometown of a Northeast Missouri soldier killed in a helicopter crash Friday, just days before he was scheduled to return from duty in Iraq. Now, family and friends of Macon native, Michael Blaise, are gathering at his home. They're sharing memories of this fallen soldier.
Walking into the Blaise household, you'll find moments when the family is laughing as they reminisce and deep sadness as they miss their, son, brother, husband and best friend.
Twenty-seven-year old Captain Kate Blaise married her high school sweetheart, Michael Blaise, six and a half years ago. During that time they balanced their marriage with their careers in the Army. She says, "So much of my life, who I am now, is just completely linked with the person that Mike made me. I don't think I'm going to have a good sense of humor, and it's very difficult to imagine that larger-than-life kind of person not around."
She was close by when news of the helicopter crash came to her and officials are still not certain what happened. She adds, "We don't know exactly, Michael is an excellent pilot, it could have been a variety of things, weather, mechanical, could have been a mistake he made, a lot of different things and to me. That is just not really important. He was doing what he felt and believed very strongly in what he was doing and unfortunately he paid that sacrifice. But it's something he felt was the right thing and he knew was going in, that could be the end result."
They describe this soldier as "larger-than-life, hilarious, dedicated and all about family. In fact, his family and friends agree, when Blaise made friends, he made them part of his family. Scott White ought to know, he says he first met Blaise in flight school. The two the were later based in Korea, and then Fort Campbell at the same time. It was from there they were deployed within the stame Troop to Iraq.
"If you need a line of dry, witty humor, go to Mike. He had them all for you." Terry Blaise says his son had thoughtfully taken this path into service. Blaise says, "He just felt very strongly about it. He was proud to serve his country and he felt strongly about being in over in Iraq and what he was doing and he was proud to be helping people and he loved it."
White adds, "We'd get up and do what we could, every day and every night. Whenever our duty called, put ourselves at risk. He did it. We all did it, for the guys on the ground. They're the ones you see everyday on the news. So, we wanted to be there and do what we could to help them out at any cost. Unfortunately things happen, he paid the ultimate price for freedom."
Blaise says, "He will be sorely missed but he was doing what he loved to do."
Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael T. Blaise was killed in action on 1/23/04.
Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael T. Blaise, 29, of Tennessee
CWO2 Blaise was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 101st Aviation Brigade, based at Fort Campbell, Ky.; killed Jan. 23, 2004 when his OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter crashed on its way back from a combat mission near Mosul in northern Iraq.
Chief Warrant Officer Michael T. Blaise loved to fly so much that he would e-mail pictures of the inside and outside of his helicopter to his family.
“He was doing what he wanted to do, and he loved it,” said his stepmother, Cheryl Blaise. “He told my husband that if anything happened, don’t feel bad: ‘I’m doing what I want to do.’”
Blaise, 29, died Jan. 23 when his helicopter crashed on its way back from a combat mission near Mosul, Iraq. He was based at Fort Campbell, Ky. He graduated from high school in Macon, Mo., in 1993 and attended technical school for a year before joining the Army, which he always wanted to do, said his father, Terry. Blaise felt strongly about serving in Iraq, and said Iraqis often thanked him for his service. Blaise’s wife, Kate, is an Army captain who was serving at the same base in Iraq.
Funeral services are still pending in the hometown of a Northeast Missouri soldier killed in a helicopter crash Friday, just days before he was scheduled to return from duty in Iraq. Now, family and friends of Macon native, Michael Blaise, are gathering at his home. They're sharing memories of this fallen soldier.
Walking into the Blaise household, you'll find moments when the family is laughing as they reminisce and deep sadness as they miss their, son, brother, husband and best friend.
Twenty-seven-year old Captain Kate Blaise married her high school sweetheart, Michael Blaise, six and a half years ago. During that time they balanced their marriage with their careers in the Army. She says, "So much of my life, who I am now, is just completely linked with the person that Mike made me. I don't think I'm going to have a good sense of humor, and it's very difficult to imagine that larger-than-life kind of person not around."
She was close by when news of the helicopter crash came to her and officials are still not certain what happened. She adds, "We don't know exactly, Michael is an excellent pilot, it could have been a variety of things, weather, mechanical, could have been a mistake he made, a lot of different things and to me. That is just not really important. He was doing what he felt and believed very strongly in what he was doing and unfortunately he paid that sacrifice. But it's something he felt was the right thing and he knew was going in, that could be the end result."
They describe this soldier as "larger-than-life, hilarious, dedicated and all about family. In fact, his family and friends agree, when Blaise made friends, he made them part of his family. Scott White ought to know, he says he first met Blaise in flight school. The two the were later based in Korea, and then Fort Campbell at the same time. It was from there they were deployed within the stame Troop to Iraq.
"If you need a line of dry, witty humor, go to Mike. He had them all for you." Terry Blaise says his son had thoughtfully taken this path into service. Blaise says, "He just felt very strongly about it. He was proud to serve his country and he felt strongly about being in over in Iraq and what he was doing and he was proud to be helping people and he loved it."
White adds, "We'd get up and do what we could, every day and every night. Whenever our duty called, put ourselves at risk. He did it. We all did it, for the guys on the ground. They're the ones you see everyday on the news. So, we wanted to be there and do what we could to help them out at any cost. Unfortunately things happen, he paid the ultimate price for freedom."
Blaise says, "He will be sorely missed but he was doing what he loved to do."
Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael T. Blaise was killed in action on 1/23/04.
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Army Specialist Michael A. Diraimondo
Remember Our Heroes
Army Specialist Michael A. Diraimondo, 22, of Simi Valley, Calif.
Spc. Diraimondo was assigned to the 571st Medical Company (Air Ambulance), based in Fort Carson, Colo.; killed Jan. 8 while on board a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter when it crashed during a Medevac mission in Fallujah, Iraq.
Spc. Michael A. Diraimondo had aspirations to work as a paramedic after his tour of duty in Iraq, where he served as an Army medic.
“He was at the peak of his life,” said his father, Anthony Diraimondo. “He was like a sponge with knowledge. He had such a great, great attitude and felt so good about himself. I take some comfort that he died with the highest self-confidence in himself.”
Diraimondo, 22, of Simi Valley, Calif., died Jan. 8 when the Black Hawk helicopter he was on was shot down near near Fallujah, Iraq. Eight others on board were killed. Diraimondo was stationed at Fort Carson, Colo.
The elder Diraimondo, a veteran of the Vietnam War, said his son had recently sent an e-mail to one of his two older sisters.
“He thought a lot about the families back home and how he was helping to save lives,” his father said.
— Associated Press
Army Specialist Michael A. Diraimondo was killed in action on 01/08/04.
Army Specialist Michael A. Diraimondo, 22, of Simi Valley, Calif.
Spc. Diraimondo was assigned to the 571st Medical Company (Air Ambulance), based in Fort Carson, Colo.; killed Jan. 8 while on board a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter when it crashed during a Medevac mission in Fallujah, Iraq.
Spc. Michael A. Diraimondo had aspirations to work as a paramedic after his tour of duty in Iraq, where he served as an Army medic.
“He was at the peak of his life,” said his father, Anthony Diraimondo. “He was like a sponge with knowledge. He had such a great, great attitude and felt so good about himself. I take some comfort that he died with the highest self-confidence in himself.”
Diraimondo, 22, of Simi Valley, Calif., died Jan. 8 when the Black Hawk helicopter he was on was shot down near near Fallujah, Iraq. Eight others on board were killed. Diraimondo was stationed at Fort Carson, Colo.
The elder Diraimondo, a veteran of the Vietnam War, said his son had recently sent an e-mail to one of his two older sisters.
“He thought a lot about the families back home and how he was helping to save lives,” his father said.
— Associated Press
Army Specialist Michael A. Diraimondo was killed in action on 01/08/04.
Friday, January 02, 2004
Army Capt. Kimberly N. Hampton
Remember Our Heroes
Army Capt. Kimberly N. Hampton, 27, of Easley, S.C.
Capt. Hampton was assigned to 1st Battalion, 82nd Aviation Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; killed Jan. 2 when her OH-58 Kiowa observation helicopter was shot down by enemy ground fire in Fallujah, Iraq.
Parents, fiancé lay to rest first woman from South Carolina to die in Iraq
Associated Press
EASLEY, S.C. — Army Capt. Kimberly Hampton accomplished a lot in her 27 years.
She was an honors graduate from Presbyterian College who never lost a tennis match. She became the battalion commander of the ROTC unit there, a job that prepared her to command the Delta Troop in the 1st Squadron of the 17th Cavalry Regiment in Iraq.
She was in her second term of military service when the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter she was piloting was shot down Jan. 2.
On Saturday, about 1,200 people recalled Hampton’s life as she was laid to rest near her parents’ home with full military honors.
Hampton, who was based at Fort Bragg, N.C., was the first female pilot killed in Iraq. She was also the first woman from South Carolina to die there.
To her parents, Hampton, an only child, was “baby girl.” To Army Capt. Will Braman, she was his fiancée, who he planned to marry when both returned from Baghdad. To her tennis teammates, she was “Kimbo.” To those serving with her in Iraq, her voice was “Dark Horse Six.”
Not everyone at the funeral knew Hampton. There were hundreds of veterans and members of Rock Springs Baptist Church, where the ceremony was held.
Some mourners worked with her father, Dale, at Fort Hill Gas and Electric. Hundreds more who had never met her lined the path of the funeral procession, waving American flags at the passing motorcade. Mourners shook from the cold and from tears as some huddled under blankets and saluted at her casket in the near-freezing weather.
Everyone who knew her seemed to have a story about Hampton. She was president of the student body and captain of the tennis team at Easley High School. Robin Smith taught Hampton how to play shortstop on the softball team their senior year. She said she will always remember Hampton’s heart. “She was a friend to everyone,” Smith said.
Presbyterian College President John Griffith remembered Hampton as motivated and generous. “She was always striving for more,” he said.
“Our world is so much in need of heroes. I’m here to tell you today that at Presbyterian College, she is a hero,” Griffith told the those at the church. Dozens more watched the funeral on a television in the church’s overflow room.
Her Fort Bragg commander, Lt. Col. Terry Morgan, said she could be tough on her troops but was an inspiring leader who rewarded a job well done with “her warm smile and trademark wink.”
Hampton was stationed in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. She lived in Fayetteville, N.C., before she left for Iraq on Aug. 31.
She had also served in Korea and Afghanistan.
“She was doing what she enjoyed doing. She was trained well, and she felt it an honor to serve her country,” said Hampton’s mom, Ann.
The Kiowa helicopter, which must be operated by two people, is designed for reconnaissance and observation missions and is often used to spot targets for Apache attack helicopters. The second pilot was injured in the crash near Fallujah, a Sunni Muslim town west of Baghdad under the charge of the 82nd.
Hampton wanted to be a pilot since she was young, her parents said. She grew up in Easley and wrote a paper for her third grade class that described how she had always wanted to fly, they said.
“We gave that to her as part of her graduation gift from Army flight school, and I think it pretty much blew her away that she had written such things as that as far back as the third grade,” Dale Hampton said.
Friends of Hampton’s parents said the Easley City Council is planning a memorial in her name.
Hampton’s parents were given Hampton’s Bronze medal, an Air Medal and the Purple Heart.
“The greatest accolade Kimberly Hampton will be given will not be here but in Heaven,” said the Rev. David Gallamore, pastor of the church. “Thank God for the life of Kimberly Hampton.”
Gunfire kills Bragg-based helicopter pilot
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina soldier based at Fort Bragg, N.C., has become the first woman pilot killed in Iraq.
Capt. Kimberly Hampton, 27, died Jan. 2 after her OH-58 Kiowa helicopter went down in enemy fire near Fallujah, her parents said. The other pilot on the helicopter was injured in the crash.
Hampton, an Easley High School graduate, also was the first woman from South Carolina killed in combat in Iraq.
She was stationed in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg. She lived in Fayetteville, N.C., before she left for Iraq on Aug. 31.
Dale and Ann Hampton said the Army called to put them in touch with Kimberly’s boyfriend, who also is an Army pilot stationed in Baghdad. Dale Hampton said Kimberly’s boyfriend, Capt. Will Braman, will be coming to Easley “shortly” to be with her family.
The couple “were considering very strongly becoming engaged when both got back to the United States,” Dale Hampton said.
The Hamptons said they were told that witnesses identified that missile fire brought down Hampton’s helicopter. The Kiowa, which must be operated by two people, is designed for reconnaissance and observation missions and is often used to spot targets for Apache attack helicopters.
Kimberly Hampton was an only child who wanted to be a pilot since she was young, her parents said. She grew up in Easley and wrote a paper for her third grade class that described how she had always wanted to fly, they said.
“We gave that to her as part of her graduation gift from Army flight school, and I think it pretty much blew her away that she had written such things as that as far back as the third grade,” Dale Hampton said.
Kimberly was her high school’s student body president and captain of the tennis team. She played tennis at Furman University for a year but graduated in 1998 from Presbyterian College, where she studied English and was the battalion commander of the ROTC unit. She was recruited by West Point to play tennis but decided it was “not a place for women, that it was a place for men,” Dale Hampton said.
The military seemed like a natural thing for her to do, Hampton said, because he and Kimberly’s grandfather had served in the military.
“It was just probably part of her background that we didn’t think a whole lot about until looking back now,” he said. She had also served in Korea and Afghanistan.
Dale Hampton said Kimberly “was smiling real big, she was eager to get to Iraq and do what she was trained to do and she was very upbeat about taking command” as she deployed for Iraq from Fort Bragg.
“She was doing what she enjoyed doing. She was trained well, and she felt it an honor to serve her country,” Ann Hampton said.
— Associated Press
S.C. pilot killed in Iraq to be honored at state tournament
BELTON, S.C. — Former Presbyterian College tennis coach Donna Arnold came looking for prospects in the early 1990s at the Wachovia Palmetto Championships and immediately saw something special in Kimberly Hampton.
Capt. Hampton, who became a college tennis star for Arnold, went on to a military career as an Army helicopter pilot. She was the first female pilot to die in the Iraqi conflict when she was shot down in January near Fallujah.
Hampton will be honored Friday at one of South Carolina’s premier junior tournaments when the Tiger Hustle Award, given to a girl from the event’s 12-and-under division, is renamed for her.
“It wasn’t like she was the No. 1 player with all the big schools looking at her. But she was one of those sleepers who develop,” Arnold recalled.
“She hustled, went for every ball and wasn’t a brat on the court. She was everything I look for in a player, and each year she quietly improved,” Arnold said.
Palmetto Championships director Rex Maynard says he knew Hampton through the tournament. He said the 27-year-old woman’s death brought the war home to him in a very personal way.
“Things like that happen, and it’s all over the front page and all over the news, and then it goes away. Anything we can do to remember her is good,” Maynard said.
More than 1,000 people turned out for Hampton’s burial in Easley. Some remembered her as a gallant servicewoman, but others knew her from her tennis accomplishments.
She attended Presbyterian on an ROTC scholarship. Hampton played for Arnold for three years with the Blue Hose. Hampton became team captain and won the South Atlantic Conference singles title her final two years.
Hampton helped the Blue Hose reach the NCAA Division II tournament and ended her career with a 27-0 record in conference singles play.
Hampton was named the SAC female athlete of the year in 1998. The day before her graduation that spring, Hampton was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army.
Arnold, who is senior director of programs and sports director at the Laurens Family YMCA, said Hampton will be enshrined in the SAC Hall of Fame.
Earlier this year, the South Carolina branch of the United State Tennis Association renamed its most improved junior girl award in honor of Hampton.
Arnold expects Hampton’s character and skill will be showcased each time her Palmetto Championship award is given out.
“She had that athleticism and that burning desire to do well in everything she did,” Arnold said. “She was one of a kind.”
— Associated Press
Female helicopter pilot killed in Iraq was living her dreams
When Kimberly Hampton headed off to war the first time, she sent her mother an e-mail, joking about the hazards of flying a small helicopter. But she had a serious message, too.
“If there is anything I can say to ease your mind ... if anything ever happens to me, you can be certain that I am doing the things I love,” she wrote. “... I’m living my dreams for sure, living life on the edge at times and pushing the envelope. ...
“So, worry if you must,” she added, “but you can be sure that your only child is living a full, exciting life and is HAPPY!”
Kimberly Hampton wrote that message on Feb. 4, 2003, while stationed in Afghanistan. Eleven months later, the 27-year-old Army captain was killed in Fallujah, Iraq, when her Kiowa helicopter was shot down.
“A lot of times when I’m feeling down, I’ll read it,” her mother, Ann, says of the note. “It doesn’t take away the hurt or the loneliness. It does reinforce the fact that she was happy.”
Growing up in Easley, S.C., Kimberly Hampton excelled at most everything: She was the high school student body president and captain of the tennis team, then ROTC battalion commander and an honors graduate from Presbyterian College.
Her dreams of taking to the skies began early. When she finished Army flight school, her parents presented her with a composition she had written in third grade saying she “would like to fly like a bird.”
Hampton liked the structure and discipline of the military and in college wrote a letter to her mother, saying: “The United States needs good, solid troops in the hot spots. That’s where I want to be.”
Stationed with the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, she had taken over a troop command months before her death.
“She was an overachiever,” her mother says. “She felt she had to work harder, maybe because she was female. But that didn’t bother her.”
Ann Hampton says she was comforted by a chaplain in Iraq who said he admired her daughter because “she never lost her femininity.”
“Being in command, she had to be rough and tough ... but she was extremely fair,” her mother says. “Just because she lived in a man’s world, she didn’t try to be a man. At night, she could take her hair out of the bun, and still look like a beautiful girl.”
“She was a sweet girl, tenderhearted,” her mother adds. “She was just real genuine.”
— Associated Press
Army Capt. Kimberly N. Hampton was killed in action on 01/02/04.
Army Capt. Kimberly N. Hampton, 27, of Easley, S.C.
Capt. Hampton was assigned to 1st Battalion, 82nd Aviation Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; killed Jan. 2 when her OH-58 Kiowa observation helicopter was shot down by enemy ground fire in Fallujah, Iraq.
Parents, fiancé lay to rest first woman from South Carolina to die in Iraq
Associated Press
EASLEY, S.C. — Army Capt. Kimberly Hampton accomplished a lot in her 27 years.
She was an honors graduate from Presbyterian College who never lost a tennis match. She became the battalion commander of the ROTC unit there, a job that prepared her to command the Delta Troop in the 1st Squadron of the 17th Cavalry Regiment in Iraq.
She was in her second term of military service when the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter she was piloting was shot down Jan. 2.
On Saturday, about 1,200 people recalled Hampton’s life as she was laid to rest near her parents’ home with full military honors.
Hampton, who was based at Fort Bragg, N.C., was the first female pilot killed in Iraq. She was also the first woman from South Carolina to die there.
To her parents, Hampton, an only child, was “baby girl.” To Army Capt. Will Braman, she was his fiancée, who he planned to marry when both returned from Baghdad. To her tennis teammates, she was “Kimbo.” To those serving with her in Iraq, her voice was “Dark Horse Six.”
Not everyone at the funeral knew Hampton. There were hundreds of veterans and members of Rock Springs Baptist Church, where the ceremony was held.
Some mourners worked with her father, Dale, at Fort Hill Gas and Electric. Hundreds more who had never met her lined the path of the funeral procession, waving American flags at the passing motorcade. Mourners shook from the cold and from tears as some huddled under blankets and saluted at her casket in the near-freezing weather.
Everyone who knew her seemed to have a story about Hampton. She was president of the student body and captain of the tennis team at Easley High School. Robin Smith taught Hampton how to play shortstop on the softball team their senior year. She said she will always remember Hampton’s heart. “She was a friend to everyone,” Smith said.
Presbyterian College President John Griffith remembered Hampton as motivated and generous. “She was always striving for more,” he said.
“Our world is so much in need of heroes. I’m here to tell you today that at Presbyterian College, she is a hero,” Griffith told the those at the church. Dozens more watched the funeral on a television in the church’s overflow room.
Her Fort Bragg commander, Lt. Col. Terry Morgan, said she could be tough on her troops but was an inspiring leader who rewarded a job well done with “her warm smile and trademark wink.”
Hampton was stationed in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. She lived in Fayetteville, N.C., before she left for Iraq on Aug. 31.
She had also served in Korea and Afghanistan.
“She was doing what she enjoyed doing. She was trained well, and she felt it an honor to serve her country,” said Hampton’s mom, Ann.
The Kiowa helicopter, which must be operated by two people, is designed for reconnaissance and observation missions and is often used to spot targets for Apache attack helicopters. The second pilot was injured in the crash near Fallujah, a Sunni Muslim town west of Baghdad under the charge of the 82nd.
Hampton wanted to be a pilot since she was young, her parents said. She grew up in Easley and wrote a paper for her third grade class that described how she had always wanted to fly, they said.
“We gave that to her as part of her graduation gift from Army flight school, and I think it pretty much blew her away that she had written such things as that as far back as the third grade,” Dale Hampton said.
Friends of Hampton’s parents said the Easley City Council is planning a memorial in her name.
Hampton’s parents were given Hampton’s Bronze medal, an Air Medal and the Purple Heart.
“The greatest accolade Kimberly Hampton will be given will not be here but in Heaven,” said the Rev. David Gallamore, pastor of the church. “Thank God for the life of Kimberly Hampton.”
Gunfire kills Bragg-based helicopter pilot
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina soldier based at Fort Bragg, N.C., has become the first woman pilot killed in Iraq.
Capt. Kimberly Hampton, 27, died Jan. 2 after her OH-58 Kiowa helicopter went down in enemy fire near Fallujah, her parents said. The other pilot on the helicopter was injured in the crash.
Hampton, an Easley High School graduate, also was the first woman from South Carolina killed in combat in Iraq.
She was stationed in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg. She lived in Fayetteville, N.C., before she left for Iraq on Aug. 31.
Dale and Ann Hampton said the Army called to put them in touch with Kimberly’s boyfriend, who also is an Army pilot stationed in Baghdad. Dale Hampton said Kimberly’s boyfriend, Capt. Will Braman, will be coming to Easley “shortly” to be with her family.
The couple “were considering very strongly becoming engaged when both got back to the United States,” Dale Hampton said.
The Hamptons said they were told that witnesses identified that missile fire brought down Hampton’s helicopter. The Kiowa, which must be operated by two people, is designed for reconnaissance and observation missions and is often used to spot targets for Apache attack helicopters.
Kimberly Hampton was an only child who wanted to be a pilot since she was young, her parents said. She grew up in Easley and wrote a paper for her third grade class that described how she had always wanted to fly, they said.
“We gave that to her as part of her graduation gift from Army flight school, and I think it pretty much blew her away that she had written such things as that as far back as the third grade,” Dale Hampton said.
Kimberly was her high school’s student body president and captain of the tennis team. She played tennis at Furman University for a year but graduated in 1998 from Presbyterian College, where she studied English and was the battalion commander of the ROTC unit. She was recruited by West Point to play tennis but decided it was “not a place for women, that it was a place for men,” Dale Hampton said.
The military seemed like a natural thing for her to do, Hampton said, because he and Kimberly’s grandfather had served in the military.
“It was just probably part of her background that we didn’t think a whole lot about until looking back now,” he said. She had also served in Korea and Afghanistan.
Dale Hampton said Kimberly “was smiling real big, she was eager to get to Iraq and do what she was trained to do and she was very upbeat about taking command” as she deployed for Iraq from Fort Bragg.
“She was doing what she enjoyed doing. She was trained well, and she felt it an honor to serve her country,” Ann Hampton said.
— Associated Press
S.C. pilot killed in Iraq to be honored at state tournament
BELTON, S.C. — Former Presbyterian College tennis coach Donna Arnold came looking for prospects in the early 1990s at the Wachovia Palmetto Championships and immediately saw something special in Kimberly Hampton.
Capt. Hampton, who became a college tennis star for Arnold, went on to a military career as an Army helicopter pilot. She was the first female pilot to die in the Iraqi conflict when she was shot down in January near Fallujah.
Hampton will be honored Friday at one of South Carolina’s premier junior tournaments when the Tiger Hustle Award, given to a girl from the event’s 12-and-under division, is renamed for her.
“It wasn’t like she was the No. 1 player with all the big schools looking at her. But she was one of those sleepers who develop,” Arnold recalled.
“She hustled, went for every ball and wasn’t a brat on the court. She was everything I look for in a player, and each year she quietly improved,” Arnold said.
Palmetto Championships director Rex Maynard says he knew Hampton through the tournament. He said the 27-year-old woman’s death brought the war home to him in a very personal way.
“Things like that happen, and it’s all over the front page and all over the news, and then it goes away. Anything we can do to remember her is good,” Maynard said.
More than 1,000 people turned out for Hampton’s burial in Easley. Some remembered her as a gallant servicewoman, but others knew her from her tennis accomplishments.
She attended Presbyterian on an ROTC scholarship. Hampton played for Arnold for three years with the Blue Hose. Hampton became team captain and won the South Atlantic Conference singles title her final two years.
Hampton helped the Blue Hose reach the NCAA Division II tournament and ended her career with a 27-0 record in conference singles play.
Hampton was named the SAC female athlete of the year in 1998. The day before her graduation that spring, Hampton was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army.
Arnold, who is senior director of programs and sports director at the Laurens Family YMCA, said Hampton will be enshrined in the SAC Hall of Fame.
Earlier this year, the South Carolina branch of the United State Tennis Association renamed its most improved junior girl award in honor of Hampton.
Arnold expects Hampton’s character and skill will be showcased each time her Palmetto Championship award is given out.
“She had that athleticism and that burning desire to do well in everything she did,” Arnold said. “She was one of a kind.”
— Associated Press
Female helicopter pilot killed in Iraq was living her dreams
When Kimberly Hampton headed off to war the first time, she sent her mother an e-mail, joking about the hazards of flying a small helicopter. But she had a serious message, too.
“If there is anything I can say to ease your mind ... if anything ever happens to me, you can be certain that I am doing the things I love,” she wrote. “... I’m living my dreams for sure, living life on the edge at times and pushing the envelope. ...
“So, worry if you must,” she added, “but you can be sure that your only child is living a full, exciting life and is HAPPY!”
Kimberly Hampton wrote that message on Feb. 4, 2003, while stationed in Afghanistan. Eleven months later, the 27-year-old Army captain was killed in Fallujah, Iraq, when her Kiowa helicopter was shot down.
“A lot of times when I’m feeling down, I’ll read it,” her mother, Ann, says of the note. “It doesn’t take away the hurt or the loneliness. It does reinforce the fact that she was happy.”
Growing up in Easley, S.C., Kimberly Hampton excelled at most everything: She was the high school student body president and captain of the tennis team, then ROTC battalion commander and an honors graduate from Presbyterian College.
Her dreams of taking to the skies began early. When she finished Army flight school, her parents presented her with a composition she had written in third grade saying she “would like to fly like a bird.”
Hampton liked the structure and discipline of the military and in college wrote a letter to her mother, saying: “The United States needs good, solid troops in the hot spots. That’s where I want to be.”
Stationed with the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, she had taken over a troop command months before her death.
“She was an overachiever,” her mother says. “She felt she had to work harder, maybe because she was female. But that didn’t bother her.”
Ann Hampton says she was comforted by a chaplain in Iraq who said he admired her daughter because “she never lost her femininity.”
“Being in command, she had to be rough and tough ... but she was extremely fair,” her mother says. “Just because she lived in a man’s world, she didn’t try to be a man. At night, she could take her hair out of the bun, and still look like a beautiful girl.”
“She was a sweet girl, tenderhearted,” her mother adds. “She was just real genuine.”
— Associated Press
Army Capt. Kimberly N. Hampton was killed in action on 01/02/04.
Thursday, January 01, 2004
Army Sgt. Dennis A. Corral
Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. Dennis A. Corral, 33, of Kearney, Neb.
Sgt. Corral was assigned to the 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; killed while riding in a convoy going to Baghdad International Airport Jan. 1, 2004 when his vehicle went out of control and rolled over in Baghdad.
Sgt. Dennis A. Corral was not scheduled for deployment to Iraq until January, but he volunteered to go earlier in place of another soldier who was married and had children.
“He’ll step forward if they need help,” said his mother, Yolanda Corral. “He’s always been like that.”
Corral, 33, of Kearney, Neb., was killed Jan. 1 when his vehicle went out of control as it traveled in a convoy to Baghdad International Airport. He was deployed to Iraq in December. Born in San Diego, Corral entered the Army in 1989 and later left the service to pursue other interests. He moved to Kearney in 1994, re-entered the Army in 1997 and had been stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., since October.
After his death, his mother gathered with relatives to share memories.
“It’s hard to believe he’s gone,” said Corral’s brother, Peter. “But he did die doing what he loved to do.”
Army Sgt. Dennis A. Corral was killed in action on 01/01/04.
Army Sgt. Dennis A. Corral, 33, of Kearney, Neb.
Sgt. Corral was assigned to the 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; killed while riding in a convoy going to Baghdad International Airport Jan. 1, 2004 when his vehicle went out of control and rolled over in Baghdad.
Sgt. Dennis A. Corral was not scheduled for deployment to Iraq until January, but he volunteered to go earlier in place of another soldier who was married and had children.
“He’ll step forward if they need help,” said his mother, Yolanda Corral. “He’s always been like that.”
Corral, 33, of Kearney, Neb., was killed Jan. 1 when his vehicle went out of control as it traveled in a convoy to Baghdad International Airport. He was deployed to Iraq in December. Born in San Diego, Corral entered the Army in 1989 and later left the service to pursue other interests. He moved to Kearney in 1994, re-entered the Army in 1997 and had been stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., since October.
After his death, his mother gathered with relatives to share memories.
“It’s hard to believe he’s gone,” said Corral’s brother, Peter. “But he did die doing what he loved to do.”
Army Sgt. Dennis A. Corral was killed in action on 01/01/04.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)