Our Family's Christmas Tragedy

Christmas Eve 2007, we spent a wonderful evening with my husband's family, including aunts, uncles, cousins, and their children. It was a magical evening for the children and a wonderful time of having the family together. The one person missing was Bryan, my husband's cousin, who was serving in Iraq.

On Christmas Day, we each spent Christmas in our own homes celebrating the true meaning of Christmas as well as seeing the delight and awe in our children's eyes when they awoke to see what was under the tree.

All of our holiday cheer was shattered when we received word at 10 o'clock in the morning of December 26, that Bryan was killed in Iraq on Christmas Day when an improvised explosive device detonated near his position. Bryan was serving with the 82nd Airborne out of Fort Bragg, NC.

Bryan was the only child of Karl's aunt Sylvia. He had been deployed to Iraq for his second tour since November 2006 and had just received his orders stating he would finally return home in early February 2008. His daughter turned 4 on New Year's Eve and his son was born this past May. Bryan was 33.

The outpouring of support from the community of St. Augustine where Bryan grew up was so overwhelming. Nearly a hundred Patriot Guard Riders with flags on their motorcycles also stood with flags on either side of the sidewalk leading to the church; a several mile procession with people taking time out of their work day to stand and hold American flags with their hand over their heart; three gentlemen who saluted every vehicle in the procession; the sheriff's deputies who stood at attention at nearly every intersection; the fire fighters who positioned two ladder trucks at the entrance to the cemetery over which flew an enormous American flag; and the house on the procession route who had a sign in their front yard thanking Bryan.

Please keep Bryan's mom and his wife and kids in your prayers. We will miss you tremendously, Bryan.