Note: This article was originally published on Nov. 11, 2003. We’re re-posting it now for our tribute to Colorado’s Fallen.
Fountain – Tiffany Bader stood between a flag-draped coffin and a
large portrait of her husband Monday, repeating over and over that
she was not going to cry as she said goodbye to Daniel Bader.
Staff Sgt. Bader was killed Nov. 2 after a helicopter he boarded
for a two-week reprieve from the occupation of Iraq was felled by a
missile near Fallujah. Sixteen U.S. soldiers died and more than 20
were injured.
In spite of Tiffany Bader’s promise not to cry at her husband’s
funeral in Fountain on Monday, tears flowed easily for many.
Roughly 200 people packed a chapel meant to handle half that crowd
to honor the avid hunter, fisherman and NASCAR fan. Bader, a
soldier with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, was 28. He was
picked by commanders in Iraq to take a two-week rest and
recuperation break so he could see his wife and 14-month-old
daughter, Taryn. Taryn, who is now walking, was only 6 months old
when Bader left for Iraq last spring. On Monday, the little girl
wore a dark purple dress as grief-stricken relatives and friends
passed her around, seeking comfort in holding her.
“Now comes the hard part,” Tiffany Bader said of raising Taryn
alone and making sure the girl learns everything she can about her
father.
“Taryn has lost more than any of us,” said Dana Miller, Taryn’s
uncle. Taryn has lost “a man to scare all the boys away, a man to
teach her to play sports and a man to give her a shoulder to cry
on.”
Bader’s funeral was the second of the services for the four Fort
Carson soldiers killed in the helicopter.
A service for Sgt. Ernest Bucklew, 33, was held Saturday in
Pennsylvania. Bucklew was on his way home to his mother’s funeral
when the helicopter was attacked.
Spec. Brian Penisten, who was on his way to Pueblo for his wedding
last Friday, will be buried in Indiana today.
And a service for 22-year-old Pfc. Darius Jennings, the young GI
who desperately wanted to escape Iraq for the two-week break, will
be held on Saturday in South Carolina.
Memorial services for all four soldiers will be held at Fort Carson
at a later date.
Bader “was my friend, and those memories of our friendship will
keep me going another day,” said Sgt. Scott McGlaughlin during the
funeral.
Bader was born in Nebraska and moved to Colorado Springs when he
was 10. This week he and his father Roger planned to spend a day
talking and fishing.
Instead, Roger Bader had to prepare a eulogy for his son.
“Dear Dan, I was going to write a poem but the words just weren’t
coming to me,” Roger Bader read from the letter to his son.
” Dan, I truly didn’t think you would be killed in Iraq because,
Dan, you were always a survivor.
“Son, you should see your daughter now, she is so cute and into
everything.
“Son, I’m so very proud of you. You are my hero. God bless and
take care of you until I get up there. I love you, Son. Pops.”
