Published: October 21, 2008 02:55 am         

Local man killed in Iraq

Frankston grad believed first area soldier to die in Iraq

PALESTINE — Friends and family members are mourning the loss of a 21-year-old soldier from Brushy Creek who was killed in Iraq last Thursday.

Pfc. Heath Pickard, 21, was killed when his unit was hit by mortar fire and rocket-fired grenades while still inside the perimeter during a pre-mission briefing at Forward Operating Base Warhorse at Baquba Airfield, approximately 40 miles northeast of Baghdad, on Thursday, according to friends of the family.

He is thought to be the first casualty in either Iraq or Afghanistan from Anderson County.

Pickard had been in Iraq as part of forces supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom for about a month and was a member of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division after being transferred to the Middle East from Alaska. He was a 2006 graduate of Frankston High School, where he played varsity football and was a member of the Indian Marching Band.

He and his wife Sara had recently become first-time parents with the birth of their son, Ethan, in June.

Funeral services are pending at Herrington/Land of Memory Funeral Home in Palestine.

Word of his death hit friends, former classmates, teachers and administrators hard.

School officials flew the American flag at half-staff Monday and announced Pickard’s passing on the school marquee. The football team planned to dedicate Friday night’s home game with Arp to the memory of Pickard, who wore jersey number 2 while on the football team and friends left their condolences on his MySpace page.

For Jacob Whitehurst, who graduated a year after Pickard, news of Pickard’s death brought him to tears.

“I’ve known him since I was 5 years old. He and his brother Chance rode the same bus and he was the first person to talk to me when I started school,” Whitehurst said. “He was just a good guy. It really bothers me that this would happen to him. It really hurts.”

Pickard was one of those guys you could count on, Whitehurst said.

“He was always there,” he said. “If you needed something, he would try. He really cared.”

Frankston ISD Superintendent Austin Thacker said he recalled Pickard as an outgoing, popular student.

“He always enjoyed life and being a part of things,” Thacker said. “He tried hard with football. The way he was with his friends, with people, he was a well-liked student. He always spoke and he always wanted to be involved with things.”

“He was just this smiley guy,” said Diane Whitehurst, who had seen Pickard grow up over the years with her sons. “He was really excited about going into the Army and going places, doing things, building a life.

“He was a happy guy and he made other people feel happy, too. He loved his football and he gave a million percent.”

When Pickard returned home for a visit recently, others noticed positive differences that the Army had made in him.

“He was proud of where he was, his occupation with the military,” Frankston High School counselor Cindy Owens said. “It was like he had finally gotten what he had worked for. He wanted a family, honor and respect and he had gotten that. I just hate this.”

Frankston Middle School Principal Richard Hamilton, who had taught Pickard’s senior English class, said Pickard seemed to have his priorities in place when they spoke during Pickard’s last visit in Frankston.

“Heath was one of those kids who was fun to be around in class. He wasn’t a troublemaker, he did his work,” Hamilton said. “When he was in school, he was a little immature but when he got to the service, that all changed.

“It took him getting into the service to grow up but after he grew up, the time he spent being a man was more than most people get in a lifetime because, to figure out why we’re here, he did it in a short period of time. I think that’s what I’ll always remember about Heath — he knew why he was here, he knew what was important in life and there’s a lot of folks who don’t figure that out their entire lives.”

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Beth Foley may be contacted via e-mail at bfoley@palestineherald.com

     

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