My Story

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John is my little brother. He was the youngest of 4. I always tried to take him under my arms and protect him. He was such a caring, loving and compassionate person. He loved life. A couple of years ago John had gotten into some trouble back home and dad called me and said he'd had it that he didn't know what to do anymore. I had dad pack John up and move to Pennsylvania with me. He did very well here. I enjoyed having him with me everyday as did my two sons too. They loved their Uncle John dearly. Then the day came when John came home from work and said "Sissy, I think I'm gonna join the Army." My heart dropped to my feet. I told him I didn't want him to do that but I'd support him no matter what. The recruiter came to my house and before we knew it, he was gone. He came home after basic training and poof he was gone again. He spent over a year in Iraq. I looked forward to every single phone call and letter. He came home on R & R leave in Feb. 2004 for a copule of weeks. He went to Atlanta to see dad, I flew there to spend a couple of days with him. We went and got tattoos together. We had so much fun. After spending a week with dad he flew home to Oklahoma to visit mom. That's when he meet Heather. It was love at first sight. I have to say Sissy was jealous. But I was very happy for him. He went back to Iraq. The phone calls grew fewer and fewer. He had to call Heather instead of sissy. I got used to it though. He came home from Iraq in September of 2004. Only to get married a few weeks later. Oct. 28th 2004 John and Heather got married. I told him that sis just didn't have a good feeling about it. But I'd be there for him. Well......that was the beginning of a long long road. John was stationed at Ft. Riley Kansas. He had to go aways sometimes to training and stuff. He went to Texas for some kind of school for a month and Heather called him and told him she didn't want to be with him anymore. She couldn't handle the military life. So, she took his truck and left to Florida. As soon as John got back to Kansas he flew to Florida to get his truck and Heather. He brought both back to Kansas. Only a few days later Heather left him again. She had no idea how bad she was tearing up my little brother inside. He refused to give up on her. He'd planned to serve the rest of his time in the Army (another 4 years) and get out and move to Florida with her just to make her happy. John had re-enlisted while serving in Iraq. In July, John had to go to Lousianna for a month worth of training. His unit was to be deployed back to Iraq in October so I guess they were preparing for that. On August 29th John called me to tell me that he was back in Kansas, that they'd gotten them out of LA a few days early because of Hurricane Katrina. We talked for a long time about Heather and my two boys. He told me he was really tired and that he'd call me later. I said okay bubba I love you and I'll talk to you later tonight. Not knowing that would be the last time I talked to him. He went out that night with his best friend and never made it home. John and Greg were inseperable. They went to a bar less than a mile from where they lived in Kansas. At the end of the night, Greg told John to give him the keys and he'd drive. They fought and argued over the keys and Greg finally gave up and let John drive. John was really hard headed like that. He never gave up on anything! John apparently took a curve way too fast and ended up hitting a tree head on. John didn't have his seat belt on and was ejected from the truck. Greg was not hurt. Not a scratch on him. John was rushed to the hospital and went through 5 hours of surgery. He came out of surgery and within 15 minutes he was gone. There was so much alcohol in his system that his blood wouldn't clot. He bled out. They removed his spleen and his liver was badly damaged. Surely there was head trama too, we don't know that for sure though. John left us at 8:29 in the morning on August 30th, 2005. I wish I could have protected him from being hurt so bad. He didn't deserve any of it. Life isn't the same here without him. He is missed so very much. John was my sons hero and he misses his Uncle John so much. A wonderful person missed and loved so very much!

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