Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1
By Edward Lee Pitts Staff Writer
FORWARD OPERATING BASE BERNSTEIN, Iraq — A member of the 278th Regimental Combat Team was killed in a bombing Sunday in Iraq — marking the first death of a soldier in the unit since the Korean War, military officials said.
Spc. Paul Thomason III, 37, of Jefferson City, Tenn., was killed in a "coordinated attack" about 10 miles from Kirkuk during a convoy from Tikrit to Tuz, officials said. Spc. Thomason was in the 278th’s 2nd Squadron. Four other 278th soldiers were wounded in the ambush.
"It’s like losing a family member," said Lt. Col. Frank McCauley, commander of the 278th’s 2nd Squadron. "He will always be a hero, and it’s sad that heroes are the ones that don’t come home."
Amanda Thomason, Spc. Thomason’s wife, said Monday that the two had celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary by telephone Friday. Spc. Thomason, a Sevier County, Tenn., native, had kept in touch, mostly by e-mail, with family members and his four children, she said.
"This hasn’t sunk in with me or the children," Mrs. Thomason said Monday.
The uparmored truck carrying the 278th soldiers was the only vehicle with members from the Tennessee-based National Guard unit traveling in a supply convoy of more than 30 vehicles. The convoy was from the 50th Main Support Battalion, a National Guard unit that often transports supplies to 278th soldiers at Forward Operating Base Bernstein, said Lt. Col. Miles Smith, executive officer of the 278th’s 2nd Squadron.
He said the convoy came under attack about 10:30 a.m. Iraqi time Sunday when an improvised expl osive device, or roadside bomb, was detonated underneath the 278th’s heavy equipment trailer truck.
After the bomb exploded, insurgents attacked with smallarms fire. American soldiers killed one suspected insurgent and captured another, Lt. Col. Smith said.
A second bomb exploded as soldiers were trying to secure the convoy’s perimeter, officials said. No one was hurt in that blast, they said.
When the first roadside bomb exploded, a soldier traveling in the truck’s cabin and three soldiers riding in the back were injured, officials said.
Mrs. Thomason said military officials came to her Jefferson City, Tenn., home Sunday night to tell her of her husband’s death. His body should be returned to Tennessee within five to 10 days, Mrs. Thomason said.
"Other than that, they haven’t told us much," she said.
Mrs. Thomason said her husband left his job at an envelope factory last summer after learning of his deployment to Iraq.
"He knew he had a job to do," she said. "He was ready."
Military authorities on Monday would not release the names of the injured soldiers, but officials said two of them were taken to hospitals in Germany. One soldier is being treated in a hospital in Iraq, and the fourth was treated and released, officials said.
Capt. John Roark, a logistics officer for the 278th’s 2nd Squadron, said the three soldiers in the back of the truck were traveling in a solid steel box that extended the height of the truck bed.
The wife of one of the injured soldiers, 278th medic Spc. David Orlandini, said she spoke with him late Monday.
Katie Orlandini said her husband told her he might get to come home in a few weeks.
"He’s doing fine," she said. "He didn’t really tell me what happened ... he was just happy to hear me."
Sgt. David Norton, 28, who returned home Monday after six months in Iraq with the Chattanoogabased "Mike Battery" — Battery M, 4th Battalion, 14th Marines — expressed sorrow for Spc. Thomason’s death, which he said was "not in vain."
"I’m sorry for him and his family," Sgt. Norton said. "I know it’s got to be a terrible time."
A memorial service for Spc. Thomason is scheduled for today at Forward Operating Base Bernstein.
"He touched many lives here in the regiment’s 2nd Squadron," said Col. Dennis Adams, the 278th’s regimental commander. "He has made the ultimate sacrifice for all us Americans."
Staff writers Candice Combs and Ashley M. Heher contributed to this story.
E-mail Edward Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com
The Associated Press Gayle Thomas, left, the mother of Spc. Paul Thomason III, and his 10-year-old daughter, Megan Thomason, sit on a couch Monday in Jefferson City, Tenn. Thomason, 37, with the 278th Regimental Combat Team, was killed when his convoy was attacked in Iraq over the weekend.
