Note: This article was originally published on Nov. 4, 2003. We’re re-posting it now for our tribute to Colorado’s Fallen.
Fort Carson – Donald Bucklew expected to have his eldest child and
only son next to him as he said goodbye to his wife of 33 years
this week.
But 33-year-old Sgt. Ernest Bucklew died shortly after boarding a
helicopter bound for an Iraqi airport. The soldier had been granted
emergency leave to attend the funeral for his mother, who died
suddenly of an aneurysm Friday. Instead, Bucklew was one of four
Fort Carson soldiers with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment to
perish Sunday after a missile destroyed the CH-47 Chinook
helicopter and sent it careening into an Iraqi field near
Fallujah.
Sixteen soldiers died in the attack, making Sunday the largest
single deadly attack against U.S. troops since the invasion in
March. It also marked the deadliest day yet for Fort Carson
soldiers.
Like Bucklew, each of the soldiers had been granted temporary leave
from Iraq and was headed home to attend to family matters or for
mid-tour breaks to rest and see loved ones again.
Also killed from Fort Carson were Staff Sgt. Daniel Bader, Spec.
Brian Peniston, and Pfc. Darius Jennings.
“I was just praying to God that he was already in Germany,”
Bader’s wife, Tiffany, told 9News on Monday night. “He was just
coming home for two weeks so he could get to know us, and he could
get to know his little girl, and now he’s not going to know what
she looked like, or how she is going to be – or anything.”
Bader’s child was only 6 months old when he said goodbye to his
family as he left for Iraq last spring.
Jennings, 22, relished the thought of coming home, writing to his
mother that he wasn’t happy in Iraq.
“He kept saying, ‘Mama, I’m ready to come home. You don’t see the
stuff I see.’ That’s what he kept telling me, ‘I’m tired, and I’m
ready to come home,”‘ Jennings’ mother, Elaine Johnson of South
Carolina, told The Associated Press on Monday.
Of the 33 passengers and three crewmen on the helicopter, 17 are
believed to have been from Fort Carson.
The Bucklew family, who lost both mother and son over a period of
three days, is now waiting for the arrival of Sgt. Bucklew’s body.
A dual funeral service is planned in Beaver Falls, Pa.
“It is very difficult for the family under these circumstances,”
said William Braslawsce, a friend of the family in Pennsylvania..
Ernest Bucklew was in charge of manning supplies near the Syrian
border. He planned on making a career out of the military after a
six-year stint in the reserves and four years in the Army. Bucklew,
who was transferred to Fort Carson last year, left for the Persian
Gulf in the spring with about 12,000 other soldiers from Fort
Carson.
Bucklew leaves behind his wife, Barbara, and two children, Joshua,
9, and Justin, 4, at Fort Carson.
“My oldest one is just a little numb,” Barbara Bucklew told The
Associated Press. “He understands his nana and father passed away,
but he hasn’t talked about it. The youngest one just doesn’t
understand.”
The couple met in 1991 when both were in the Army Reserve.
“Even on your worst day, he knew how to make you laugh. That had
to be his best quality,” his wife told AP.
With the four latest fatalities, the death toll from the Iraq war
at Fort Carson rises to 25 – all of whom were killed after the
combat portion of the war was declared over on May 1.
The lingering occupation of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and the resulting
stress and strain back home have become the source of debate for
many on the post and in nearby Colorado Springs and Fountain.
“How many people have to die before we realize we are not welcome
over there? I don’t get it. It is demoralizing for everyone, for
everyone’s family,” said Maeci Hoffman, whose husband also is with
the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.
Hoffman said even her husband questions the value of his role in
Iraq.
“He writes me these letters and says, ‘We rebuilt a school, but
isn’t this what the Red Cross is for? I’m trained to be a cavalry
scout and not a social worker.’ It is frustrating, and the longer
it goes on the angrier you get.”
Army Chaplain Bill Fox understands that anger. He says the mounting
death toll has not been easy on anyone.
“I think a lot of people are trying to be strong. But there are a
lot of emotions, and you just cannot take it over and over again,”
Fox said.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars post in nearby Fountain, usually
teeming with stateside GIs, has been void of soldiers for two days
now.
On Monday night, several retired Army men sat at the bar, tipping
back beers and watching the nightly news.
“America will never run. America is willing to do what is
necessary,” President Bush said on the broadcast.
Norman Rousseau, 63, couldn’t help responding: “We’re not running;
we’re getting the hell out of there.”
The 22-year Army veteran and lifetime member of the VFW who served
two tours in Vietnam has attended many of the memorial services at
Fort Carson. He doesn’t know how many more he has the strength to
take.
“It’s getting old. It’s getting hard. I’m not sure if I’ve got any
more tears left in my tear ducts,” he said. “I think it is time
to get the troops out. We went over there and ridded the place of
the hoodlums; now let’s go.”
