Sgt. (Robert) Wesley Tucker

Note: I wrote this for Overton County News in the week following the death of Robert Wesley Tucker on 13 Oct, 2005. I believe it remains as relevant today as it was on publication. With knowledge of their son’s death being less than 48 hours old, I remain eternally grateful to Kim and Ted Tucker for allowing me to interview them at such a difficult time.

The reality of war hit home once again last week, when a member of 3/278th K-Troop was killed in Iraq – the third area soldier to die in Iraq in less than 18 months.

Spc. Robert Wesley Tucker, 20, of Hilham, TN, died near Ad Dujayl, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device (IED) struck his Humvee during combat operations.

Tucker, accompanied by three other soldiers and an Iraqi national, drove the vehicle and was thrown on impact. He was the only fatality.

Also in the vehicle were SSG Matt Cantrell, of Morgan County, TN, who is listed in critical condition at Walter-Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., SGT Elliot Broyles, of Jamestown, TN, a soldier from Wisconsin who sustained two broken legs, and a local national who was accompanying the soldiers as interpreter.

The incident occurred after the soldiers received word that another patrol had been hit by an IED several miles away. Tucker and the others had been sent out to assist.

“He’d gone out to help,” his mother, Kim, said. “He was always thinking of other people.”

Tucker’s death came less than two weeks before he was to return home.

The 2003 graduate of Celina High School enlisted in the National Guard in the fall of 2003, and became well aware of the fact that he’d be deployed to Iraq during basic training.

Before leaving for Camp Shelby, he married the former Muriel Kiffe. While preparing to leave for Iraq, the couple learned they were expecting their first child.

“He was a fine boy,” Kim said. “He really loved his wife and baby.”

He even found a way home thanks to his mother and the Red Cross, so he could be there for the birth of his daughter, Cameron. Although his homecoming was brief, he returned to the states once more for a two-week leave.

As his daughter, now 11-months-old, grew, she came to know her dad through modern technology: webcams, instant messages, and voice messages.

“She can look at a picture right now, and call him dadada,” Kim said. “She’s so much like him.”

Although thousands of miles away from his own family, Wes did whatever he could to help the children in Iraq as well.

“He loved the kids,” Kim said. “He’d give them food and call and tell me, ‘Momma, go buy them some toys, some Matchbox cars’, and I would.”

“He saw one man drinking out of a mud puddle, so Wes gave him water. I’m just so proud that God gave him to me.”

In Clay and Overton counties, flags now fly at half-mast, as the communities prepare to bid a final farewell to Robert Wesley Tucker, once again reminded that freedom often comes with the ultimate price tag.

“Wesley died for all of us, so we can be free,” said his father, Ted, then echoed by his mother, “He was a good boy. So never forget him.”

Wes, who held the rank of specialist until his death, was posthumously promoted to sergeant. It was a promotion he knew was coming.

“He wanted it so bad,” his mother said. “Now he has it.”

In Hilham, the County Highway Department that Wes once worked for is building a road on the Tuckers’ land. It will lead to Wes’ final resting place on the land he grew up on, the land he hunted on, the land he loved. It will be known as the Sgt. Tucker Cemetery.

“Wes believed in what he was doing,” Kim said. “He believed inthose people over there, and he believed he made a difference.

“He lived 20 years. But he lived. He really lived.”