In 40 days
GI would have been home
Army 1st Lt. Kevin Joseph Smith e-mailed his
fiancée
every day from Iraq. On Thursday, he didn't.
By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS (St. Petersburg Times)
Published December 11, 2005
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Army 1st Lt. Kevin Joseph of Brandon was killed
in Iraq.
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BRANDON - The family of Army 1st Lt. Kevin Joseph Smith
gathered Saturday at his mother's home to mourn.
Inside, a dozen family members prayed with a minister
from Immanuel Lutheran Church & School. Nobody else was
admitted into the home. His stepfather Ancil Stephens even
shooed away the dog.
"No, you can't come in here," he said to the dog, closing
the door. "There are too many tears in here."
Smith, a 28-year-old West Point graduate from Brandon,
was killed Thursday by a bomb in Baghdad, about 40 days
before he was scheduled to return home.
He had been in Iraq for about six months, and was
assigned to the 1st Battalion, 76th Field Artillery, 4th
Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort
Stewart, Ga.
Smith was killed after insurgents detonated an explosive
as Smith's convoy of engineers went along the Tigris River
to a power plant, his father told the Associated Press on
Friday. The blast also injured three other soldiers, he
said.
Smith died within 30 seconds, his mother told the AP. The
bomb tore a hole in the Humvee and caused massive injury to
his right shoulder and upper body, she said.
"His last words were: "Look after my men,"' she said.
Last week, Smith sent an e-mail to his father, marking
the number of days before his return. "Forty days and
counting," Kevin Smith said in the e-mail.
"We were all counting the days," Clifford Smith told the
AP on Friday.
On Saturday, Stephens remembered how his strapping
stepson would come home on school breaks from West Point
with a hearty appetite. He and his friends sat in the
kitchen and devoured the smoked chicken he cooked.
The former Brandon High School student and his mother
were close. "Like this," Stephens said, crossing his
fingers. "Very tight."
Smith followed in the footsteps of his father, who also
served in the military and participated in the Persian Gulf
War, Stephens said.
His athletic skill helped him get a scholarship to West
Point, one of the nation's most prestigious colleges. Many
considered Smith to be the best goalkeeper in Hillsborough
County when he played for Brandon High School's soccer team.
"He was dedicated and he was a finisher," Stephens said.
"If he started anything, he was going to finish it."
He was devoted to his fiancée and their home in Savannah,
Ga., which they bought and renovated together. Before he
received his assignment, they had planned to marry this
Christmas.
Every day he was stationed in Baghdad, Stephens said,
Smith would send his fiancée a quick e-mail telling her the
same thing: "Have a good day, baby."
Thursday was different.
"She didn't receive an e-mail, and she knew," Stephens
said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
