IN MEMORIAM.......These BRAVE Men and Women died.......FOR US

[Silky]

Sergeant Brian McGinnis, 23,St. Georges, Del.

4-10-03

The sign on the front yard of the Woodbury Heights, N.J., home of William McGinnis has a picture of his son, Brian. "In loving memory of Sgt. Brian McGinnis who made the ultimate sacrifice." The sign is a shrine to the Marine who died Sunday, March 30, when a Marine Huey helicopter crashed at a supply and refueling point in southern Iraq. The cause of the crash is unclear, but officials said enemy fire was not involved. McGinnis was assigned to the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, Marine Aircraft Group 39, at Camp Pendleton, Calif. McGinnis joined the Marines in 1998 after a hearing problem prevented him from enlisting in the Air Force. Flying was a longtime dream for him.

"He had just gotten his crew wings Saturday, the day before the accident," Mildred Williams, his mother, told The Associated Press. "I am sure it was a big moment for him. He just loved flying. He was always so excited. He’d call me and tell me about all the stuff they were doing."

According to The Associated Press, McGinnis’ high school wrestling coach tried to convince him to go to college, but he had other plans.

"I remember having conversations with him about it," said Jack Holloway, who coached McGinnis at William Penn High School in New Castle. "He said the Marines were the best, and that’s what he wanted to be a part of. He welcomed the challenge."

While in school, McGinnis met Megan Mahoney, whom he married in 1999.

"He was supposed to leave the Marines in March, but the war stopped that," said his mother, who lives in Port Charlotte, Fla. "He wanted to get a job and start a family, do it right."

In addition to his wife and parents, he is survived by a stepmother, Teresa McGinnis.

 

[Silky]

Spc. William A. Jeffries, 39, Evansville, Ind.

3-31-03

"A month ago, Bill Jeffries returned to the United States after his father’s death in Florida.

Jeffries died Monday, March 31, in Spain, where he was evacuated after becoming ill in Kuwait. His family was told he developed blood clots and acute pancreatitis.

Jeffries was a gunner in Company D of the 152 nd Infantry Regiment of the Indiana National Guard.

His unit was sent to Kuwait in January. His mother, Marie Jeffries of Bonita Springs, Fla., said he didn’t make it back in time for his father’s memorial service. But he was able to spend time with his five brothers, whom he hadn’t seen in about five years.

Bill Jeffries was the youngest. "He was a lovable guy and never had an enemy in the world," she said.

Bill Jeffries was so tall — 6 foot, 7 inches — everyone told him he should play basketball, but he wasn’t interested. He went out for football but decided to quit during tryouts. He didn’t want to play because he could get hurt. His mother told him he could get hurt climbing trees, but he did that anyway. But I like climbing trees, he told her.

Jeffries served in the Air Force for 10 years, working on the security detail guarding bases from South Dakota to Turkey toAlaska. He returned to his hometown of Evansville when he got out of the Air Force and joined the Indiana National Guard.

Before he left for Kuwait, his mother asked him if he was concerned. That’s what I’m trained to do, he told her.

Jeffries is survived by his wife, B.J., his mother and five brothers. "

 

[Silky]

Specialist Brandon J. Rowe, 20, Roscoe, Ill.

4-10-03

Friends remember how Brandon J. Rowe used to make them laugh. Rowe, amember of C Company, 1 st Battalion, of the 502 nd Regiment, 101 st Airborne Division, died Monday, March 31, near the Iraqi city of Najaf. He died after a bullet hit him under his arm, where he had no body armor. He was apparently the first combat fatality for the 101 st. Rowe, from Roscoe, Ill., joined the Army shortly after he graduated from Hononegah High School in 2000. As a boy, he liked to play "Army," his mother, Wendy Borowski, told USA Today. Friends recalled him playing with GI Joe figurines, and they said they were not surprised when he did enlist. His mother has a picture of him on his 13 th birthday holding a T-shirt with the "Screaming Eagles" logo of the 101 st Airborne. But when Rowe thought about joining after he graduated, his family tried to talk him out of joining. He took some classes at Rock Valley College and performed in some plays there. Mike Webb, who taught some of the classes Brandon took at Rock Valley, told the Rockford Register Star, "He was a gentle kid with a highly developed sense of humor."

Webb recalled Rowe breaking up the tension of long rehearsals with his humor.

When he enlisted, Rowe said he was doing it to earn money for a career in computers.

His mother told The Associated Press he liked the military. "He cared about the guys that he was in the platoon with."

She said the last time she heard from him was a few days before he died, when he left a message on her answering machine, asking for extra supplies in a care package.

Rowe’s father, Milton Rowe, of Elkhorn City, Ky., told USA Today he told his son a few days before he left for Iraq how proud of him he was.

"To me, he was just a baby with a pack on his back in the hot sun, trying to do a man’s job. He was a man inside, but he was my baby boy," he said.

In Roscoe last week, there was a flag at halfstaff in front of Rowe’s home, and the Maranatha Assembly of God Church marquee said, "Roscoe mourns the loss of Spc. Brandon Rowe." A sign outside the Roscoe Township office said, "Remember Brandon Rowe. He gave his life for our freedom."

 

[Silky]

Sgt. Jacob L. Butler, 24, Wellsville, Kan.

4-6-03

In the quiet east Kansas community of Wellsville, a memorial cross reads "In Loving Memory" for Sgt. Jacob Butler. Butler, a cavalry scout with the 3 rd Brigade of the 1 st Armored Division at Fort Riley, Kansas, died Tuesday, April 1, when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the vehicle he was in.

"I just know for a fact he died fighting for our freedom and doing something he loves to do," his twin brother, Joe Butler, told The Associated Press.

Butler’s parents, James and Cindy, live in Wellsville, a town of about 1,600.

Randall Renoud remembers Butler as a kid looking for opportunities.

"He wanted to do something with his life," said Renoud, who was assistant principal when Butler attended Wellsville High School. "He was a person’s friend. People went to him. He was a kid that would come through."

Butler was remembered as likeable and polite.

"He knew right from wrong. He had good common sense. It’s hard to find people at that young of an age who have that," Dwayne Nolke, owner of Nolke’s Cash Saver grocery store, told the Kansas City Star.

Butler worked at the store for four or five years when he was a teenager.

"He thought ahead," Renoud said. "He was focused. He was the boy-next-door type kid. Just a great kid. He gave his all for America."

Butler, single with no children, joined the Army in 1998 and had been stationed at Fort Riley since November 2001.

 

[Silky]

Lance Corporal Joseph B. Maglione III, 22, Lansdale, Pa.

4-13-03


Rosemary Corr learned she lost her only child about 7:45 p.m. April 1 when she arrived home from work.

"There were two Marines there," she said. "They were standing at attention at the front door." Two days later, the mail brought a letter from her son, Joseph Maglione III. Corr took it carefully in her hands as if it would crumble if she held it too tightly. It was postmarked the day her son died. "My baby, my baby," she sobbed, then went into her bedroom to read it.

Maglione joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 2000 and served with the Bridge Company B, 6 th Engineer Support Battalion, 4 th Force Service Group, at Folsom, Pa.

Maglione died Tuesday, April 1, the day he entered Kuwait, Battalion Maj. Steve Wilkinson said.

The Department of Defense described Maglione’s death as a "noncombat weapon discharge" at Camp Coyote and noted it is under investigation.

Born in Abington, Pa., Maglione attended Council Rock High School in Bucks County from 1997 to 1998 and graduated from Lansdale’s North Penn High School in 1999.

Maglione loved sports. He was on the rugby team and track team at North Penn. He played football, ran hurdles on the track team and wrestled at Council Rock.

"He wanted to excel," said Bob Walker, a Council Rock teacher and track coach. "He worked hard at what he did. He was a very bright young man."

Maglione worked at A.V. Weber Co., a spring manufacturer in North Wales, during the summer after graduation.

"What was special about Joe was that even though he was a young kid right out of high school, he got along very well with the older employees. He fit right in," company President Dave Weber said.

"He was always friendly and smiling. We had a lot of good kids come through here, but he was one that was always reliable."

Attending Drexel University with aspirations of being an architect, he got pulled out two weeks before the end of the quarter to go with his unit to Kuwait.

"He wanted to serve his country," his mother said. "He thought the Marines were the best, the bravest. He was a little cocky. He thought he was going to fix everything."

Besides his mother, he is survived by his father, Joseph B. Maglione II, and grandparents, Mary and Jim Corr.

 

[Silky]

Captain James Adamouski, 29, Springfield, Va.

4-11-03

It’s the call no parent wants to get when a son or daughter is serving in the military: Their loved one has been killed in action.

That was the call Frank Adamouski of Springfield, Va., got last week when his son, James, died with five other soldiers when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed Wednesday, April 2, in central Iraq.

Adamouski was deployed Jan. 22 from Hunter Army Airfield at Fort Stewart, Ga. His other tours included Albania, Bosnia, Hungary and the Persian Gulf.

He graduated in 1995 from West Point, where he was a star soccer player. In August, he married his high school sweetheart. They attended Robert E. Lee High, where he was class president. In the fall, the couple planned to move to Cambridge, Mass., where he was scheduled to begin working on his master’s of business administration at Harvard University. His plan was to teach economics at West Point after graduation.

A Vietnam veteran, Frank Adamouski was nervous about having his son in combat. "You do not do something like that and not feel nervous," he said. "I was nervous when I went to Vietnam, and we were nervous to see James go to Iraq. We are proud of him and miss him. This is a very hard time for us."

Adamouski leaves behind his wife, parents and three sisters. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

[Silky]

Lance Cpl. Brian E. Anderson, 26, Durham, N.C.

Lance Cpl. Brian Anderson was killed Wednesday, April 2, west of Nasiriyah, Iraq, while manning a .50-caliber machine gun atop a 7-ton truck when it passed under low-hanging power lines. He was electrocuted.

He attended Riverside High School in Durham, graduating in 1996. He was a member of his school’s wrestling, track and football teams, and his coaches remember him as a hard worker with a big heart.

He was active at his church, Mount Calvary United Church of Christ, where he sang in the choir and played the drums.

His mother, Charlene Stroud, said he was on the church’s usher board and attended Sunday school.

She said he was a generous Christian and "enjoyed his church and lived by his faith."

He was outgoing and friendly, loved children and enjoyed bowling and playing pool, she said.

He joined the Marines in 1999 and was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. His enlistment would have been up in December, and he had planned to join the reserves and go to college, his mother said.

Anderson was an administrative clerk, and he often marveled he was on the front lines of the war, according to Marines who served with him.

He was assigned to the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2 nd Marine Division, just before it was deployed in mid-January. When the unit crossed into Iraq, he was one of the first to throw water to the waiting children, his comrades said.

"I remember the first day he came to us — he was so excited to go," 1 st Sgt. Michael Sprague of White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., told the Associated Press. "He was so much fun to be around, that kid."

Anderson is survived by his mother and stepfather, Charlene and James Stroud; his father, Larry Anderson; a brother, Larry Stroud; and a sister, Letitia Burton, all of Durham; and his wife, Jacquetta Anderson, and stepson, Malik, of Jacksonville, N.C

 

[Silky]

Specialist Matthew G. Boule, 22, Dracut, Mass.

4-9-03

Spc. Matthew G. Boule joined the Army to help pay for his education. He’d always wanted to be a state trooper — or fly a helicopter and conduct search and rescues.

Instead, Boule died in Iraq after his Black Hawk helicopter went down Wednesday, April 2, outside of Karbala. The crash killed six and wounded four.

While the U.S. Army investigates the cause of wreck, the Boule family is waiting for their son’s body.

The youngest of four, Boule always had held a job, said his father Leo Boule, 51, a U.S. Postal Service employee. If he wasn’t washing dishes, he worked as a shortorder cook.

His last job before joining the Army was working at a tattoo parlor in Dracut, where he later noted he could "make more in a weekend here than a corporal in the Army."

He is survived by his mother, two older brothers and one older sister.

 

[Silky]

Master Sergeant George A. Fernandez, 36, El Paso, Texas

4-11-03

Master Sgt. George A. Fernandez died Wednesday, April 2, in combat in northern Iraq.

A Fort Bragg spokesman said Fernandez was part of ongoing special operations in northern Iraq. Details of how he died were unavailable.

U.S. special operations forces are fighting in northern Iraq alongside Kurdish fighters, officials said.

Fernandez’s family has been a part of the military for three generations.

"Military service to America is a proud tradition of the Fernandez family," the family said in a prepared statement. "George was the third generation to serve his country as a senior noncommissioned officer. He served not out of a sense of family obligation, but out of a sense of patriotic duty."

Fernandez was born in El Paso in 1966. He received an associate’s degree from Texas Tech University in 2001.

He was the son of Army Sgt. Major Robert A. Fernandez of Jacksonville, Fla., and Betty Lou Knoch of Dublin, Ohio. He is survived by his wife, Kathryn, and a son, William Andrew.

Fernandez, whose grandfather was a sergeant major, drew praise from the Army Special Operations Command’s highest ranking noncommissioned officer.

"You meet some guys early on, and you say, ‘This is a special guy,’" Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Hall told the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. "George was something special. You can look in a guy’s eyes and see he had it."

Fernandez joined the Army as an infantryman in 1992 and was with the 1 st Battalion, 75 th Ranger Regiment, at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., for more than 10 years.

Fernandez was assigned to the Special Operations Command in November. Soldiers in that unit, according to the Observer, typically are assigned to the Army’s Delta Force, which carries out highrisk and secret missions such as rescuing hostages and fighting terrorists.

"He had the right stuff to accomplish anything he wanted to accomplish," Hall told the Observer.

Fernandez’s family said their son was more than a soldier.

"The military was just one small part of George’s life," the family statement said. "He was equally devoted to his family, his wife and his son."

Fernandez was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart. The El Paso Times contributed to this report.

 

[Silky]

Pfc. Christian D. Gurtner, 19, Ohio City, Ohio

4-6-03

Christian D. Gurtner, a recent high school graduate with a 6-month-old daughter, died Wednesday, April 2, in Iraq when his gun accidentally discharged and he was hit in the chest, military officials said. Gurtner was an infantry scout assigned to the 3 rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. Military officials did not reveal his location in Iraq at the time of the accident. He had arrived in Kuwait in February.

"His friends and family meant everything to him," said Jolenna Dailey, Gurtner’s aunt.

She described Gurtner as outgoing and said he liked to bowl.

As graduation approached last spring, he decided he would follow a long family tradition and join the military.

David Froelich, assistant principal at Van Wert High School in Ohio, recalled Gurtner’s sharp focus. "He had made a career choice to join the military and went after that goal with vigor," Froelich said. "He’s the kind of kid you wish you had a whole school full of."

Gurtner intended to join the Army. But at the recruiting station, Marine recruiter Staff Sgt. Eryck Little called him over and gave his pitch.

"How do you want your life to be — challenging or easy? " Gurtner joined the Marines in June.

In March, his platoon leader sent a letter to his parents saying Gurtner "continues to contribute both his skills and his hard work to his team. It is apparent that your son has been instilled with characteristics such as commitment, patriotism, honor and courage."

"He was the best soldier, very proud to be a Marine, very proud to serve his country," his aunt said.

Gurtner is survived by his parents, Gary and Eldonna Wagonrod, his daughter and three sisters.

 

[Silky]

Chief Warrant Officer Erik Halvorsen, 40, Bennington, Vt.

4-11-03

Erik Halvorsen was a career soldier who loved to fly. He was a veteran, having served in Bosnia and during the 1991 Gulf War, as well as a tour in Korea, but somehow this assignment seemed different. "He was a man of few words, but those actions . . .," his mother, Dorothy Halvorsen, told the Bennington (Vt.) Banner. "He was very somber when he left." Halvorsen, who "loved being in the air," began flying while in high school. He graduated from the University of Hartford (Conn.) in 1986 with a degree in electronic engineering and entered the military soon afterward. "My son was a wonderful person," his mother said. "He was brave, he was caring, and he loved flying. I was always very proud of him."

A helicopter pilot, Halvorsen served with an aviation regiment of the 3 rd Army Infantry Division, stationed at Fort Stewart, Ga., before being deployed.

He loved skiing as much as flying and while home on leave at Christmas he spent a week on the slopes.

Upon returning to duty, he put his personal effects and important documents in storage. He arranged for his family to access them and took care of other details.

"I had a bad feeling since the time he left," his mother said. "He knew he was going to a dangerous place. He kind of prepared things so if he didn’t come back, we would know what to do."

Halvorsen died Wednesday, April 2, in a helicopter crash about 50 miles south of Baghdad in an area of heavy combat near the city of Karbala.

Five others died in the crash of the Black Hawk, according to the Department of Defense. The crash remains under investigation.

"I saw the helicopter crash on the news, and we worried and cried, thinking it could be him," Dorothy Halvorsen told her hometown newspaper.

Halvorsen is survived by his mother and three older sisters, Brenda Halvorsen of Lake Worth, Fla., Karen Loebe of Petaluma, Calif., and Ingrid Halvorsen of Delmar, N.Y., and his father, Halvor A. Halvorsen, who lives in Richmond, Maine.

 

[Zurg]

I recall when I was a kid, troops returning from or who fell in Vietnam were often treated poorly. It was wrong to do so. I am glad we are having a more thoughtful response now.

Reading these posts it is clear that our nation’s armed services attract the highest quality young men and women. We have every right to be proud of them and every obligation to remember and honor those who fall.

I think it is correct, important, and moral, that as Silky says the introductory post of this thread, They... be remembered as real people, not just statistics.

I find it heartening that we all, those who supported the idea of military action, those who were not sure and those who have issues with the policy makers who are responsible for the war, can and are taking the time to consider and honor those who serve and those who’s lives are lost in national service. By facilitating honor for service, these posts are in my opinion a great contribution to this online community.

Silky, along the idea that we all, regardless of political opinion should all honor these individual lives, and will all respect due to the effort you have made to create this thread, I wonder if you would consider changing the last word of the title of this thread from “you” to “us.”

 

[Silky]

No problem. Thanks for the suggestion, Zurg

 

[Silky]

Chief Warrant Officer Scott Jamar, 32, Sweetwater, Texas

4-9-03

Since high school, Scott Jamar had one dream — to become a helicopter pilot. He enlisted in the army after one semester at Southwest Texas State to do just that.

He realized his dream about 15 months before he was sent to Kuwait, graduating at the top of his pilot-training class.

He died Wednesday, April 2, when the Black Hawk helicopter he was traveling in crashed in central Iraq. Five other soldiers died in the crash.

Jamar was assigned to the 2 nd Battalion, 3 rd Aviation Regiment at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga. He returned from Korea in December and left for Kuwait on Super Bowl Sunday.

His family in Granbury, Texas, received several letters from him and had one phone conversation with him in the middle of March. His father, Wayne, remembers Jamar complained about only one thing in Kuwait — the sandstorms.

He also believed in why he was there. "He still loved the military and liked what he was doing," his father said. "He thought it was a necessary thing and he said, ‘Dad, we need to do this and get it taken care of so my sons don’t have to do this.’ "

He is survived by two sons, Kyle, 7, and Brennan, 5.

Jamar was known as a tease who liked to aggravate people, especially his mother, Jennifer. One Christmas while he was stationed in Alaska, he schemed with his dad and younger sister, Elizabeth, to tell his mother they needed to go pick up Christmas presents. Instead, they drove to the airport in Abilene to pick him up. Returning home, they told his mother to stay in the bedroom while they placed the presents around the tree. When she came out, Jamar was sitting on the couch "with a big old grin on his face," his father said. "Everybody loved Scott. Anybody he touched or got around, they fell in love with him," he said.

 

[Zurg]

William J. Maher 3d

In letters home, Maher spoke with pride of his mission.

"To rebuild justice here, we are training the Iraqi police force," Maher wrote. "It might sound crazy to be rearming them, but we have to do it... . Before you know it, I'll be home."

more at:

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/6413832.htm

 

[Zurg]

Being a little inquisitive I right clicked a picture to see where Silky was getting them. (The Colorado Springs Gazette)

I suggest that folks read the reasons the Gazett posted for their creating their site.

In part they said:
Whatever one's personal position on whether the United States should have embarked on this attack, most would acknowledge that lives lost are lives worth noting. They were people who chose to join the armed forces fully aware they might be called upon to fight. They were servicemen and servicewomen, and they were, as you will see in their stories, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, troop leaders and athletes, and beacons of light for their families and friends.

Full text at: http://secure.coloradosprings.com/gazette/warlogin.php

 

[*Flower*]

Thanks Zurg/Silky......

I keep coming back to this thread and reading more.

Thank you for the link. The editorial letter is so thought provoking.

 

[Silky]

Sergeant Michael F. Pedersen, 26, Flint, Mich

4-13-03

Michael F. Pedersen was the kind of child every mother wants, Lila Lipscomb said of her son from her home in Flint.

He was honorable, quietly secure with himself, a strong decision-maker and intensely loyal to his family.

Most of all, he was a peacemaker.

"Little did a mother know her son would give his life for peace," she said.

Pedersen died in a Black Hawk helicopter crash Wednesday, April 2, near Karbala in central Iraq. Five other soldiers died in the crash.

All were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, based at Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Ga., a part of the Army’s 3 rd Infantry Division.

Pedersen was a helicopter crew chief, a job he fell in love with, said his wife, Chanel Pedersen. "It was just a passion with him."

The couple married in 1997, and the two were separated at the time of his death.

The Flint native joined the Army right after graduation from Flint’s Northern Community High School in 1996. His duties took him to Hawaii, to Bosnia on a peacekeeping mission, to the Bahamas for drug enforcement and then to Iraq.

Besides his mother and wife, Pedersen leaves behind two sisters, a brother and his daughter, Destiny, 7.

"She meant the world to him, and he meant the world to her," Chanel Pedersen said. The two would often enjoy sports on ESPN together. "Destiny will be a constant reminder of him."

She said she and her daughter are receiving help from other Army wives and family members near Savannah with emotional support, errands and relays of information.

"We’re doing OK," she said.

Lipscomb recalled her son’s love of sports, especially basketball and football. He was friends with Eddie Robinson, a Flint native who now plays with the Chicago Bulls.

As a youngster her son organized snow football games in the vacant lot behind their home. "Everyone knew when Michael came home it was time for a game."

 

[Silky]

Chief Warrant Officer Eric A. Smith, 42, Rochester, N.Y.

4-9-03

Pilot Eric A. Smith of Rochester, N.Y., and five fellow soldiers died Wednesday, April 2, when their Black Hawk helicopter went down near the Iraqi city of Karbala.

At the time of the crash, the helicopter was hovering above a firefight between Iraqi and U.S. forces.

Pentagon officials said it was unclear what caused the crash, which also injured four soldiers.

All were assigned to the 2 nd Battalion, 3 rd Aviation Regiment at Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Ga.

It was Smith’s first combat mission, his family said.

Smith was a 16-year Army veteran.

He had been stationed in the Middle East since February and had served in South Korea, Germany and Egypt.

Smith’s family moved from New York City to the Rochester area when he was an infant.

The youngest of three brothers, he never married and had no children. He was a 1980 graduate of Brighton High School in Rochester.

"He loved sports," said his mother, Lillian Lake, 70, of Lake Placid, Fla. "He was a soccer player — an average guy, very laid back. He loved skiing and going out to ski in Colorado."

Smith earned a business degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1984 and worked briefly with a financial firm. His heart wasn’t in it, however.

His mother said he developed an interest in flying as a youngster, but he didn’t have the academic qualifications to become an Air Force pilot. When he was in his mid-20s, he went to California where he met a group of Air Force officers and peppered them with questions about getting his wings.

"He asked them a lot of questions and they steered him toward flying helicopters even though it’s harder to do," she said.

Smith took their advice and enlisted in 1987.

His mother said she talked with her son regularly and last saw him after Christmas, when she learned he would be going to Iraq.

"He told me if anything happened to him I should remember it was his choice," she said.

"He wasn’t drafted or pulled in. He said if he’s going to die, he wants to die flying a helicopter." The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[Silky]

Lieutenant Nathan White, 30, Abilene, Texas

4-17-03

The family of Navy pilot Lt. Nathan White remembers him as intelligent, charismatic and a bit reckless. The reckless part scared them. Especially when he was old enough to drive.

White was flying an F/A-18C Hornet on a bombing run Wednesday, April 2, from the USS Kitty Hawk when an errant Patriot missile shot his plane down. The incident occurred during fighting between U.S. troops and the Iraqi Republican Guard near Karbala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad.

"He had a charismatic personality," said his mother, Arja. "He was a fierce competitor. He lit up a room when he walked into it."

White grew up in Abilene, Texas, where he graduated from Cooper High School in 1991.

A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he went to college at Brigham Young University.

He majored in Japanese and graduated with honors, a fact his father, Dennis, relates with pride.

One of his professors was Van Gessel, now dean of the College of Humanities. Gessel remembers him as one of his best students.

"I remember him because he was always so cheerful and warm, Gessel said. "He had a phenomenal ability in Japanese. He was really confident but not cocky about his abilities."

While at BYU he volunteered for a two-year mission to Japan.

His fluency got him an internship with a Japanese tourism company in New York City. It was there he met Akiko, his wife.

After college he worked in retail management.

One day he called his family and said he joined the Navy. He was sent to Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Fla., where he graduated second in his class.

In addition to his wife and parents, White is survived by three children, Courtney, Austin and Zachary, who all live in Japan.

"He loved his country," Arja said. "He hoped for a better life for the people of Iraq. He was a man who got to live his dream