Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Three National Guard Troops from Tennessee were Killed on Patrol Near Tuz.

By Edward Lee Pitts and Mike O'Neal - Staff Writers

Three Tennessee National Guard soldiers in Iraq with the 278th Regimental Combat Team were killed in an early Sunday attack on their patrol, military officials announced Monday.

A fourth soldier wounded in the morning assault near the city of Tuz in northeastern Iraq is in critical condition, officials said.

Staff Sgt. Asbury Fred Hawn, 35, of Lebanon, Tenn.; Sgt. Shannon D. Taylor, 30, of Smithville, Tenn.; and Sgt. Gary Lee Reese, 22, of Ashland City, Tenn., died after enemy forces targeted their vehicle with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire.

The soldiers were members of the regiment's 3rd Squadron out of McMinnville, Tenn., but were assigned in Iraq to Troop E of the 2nd Squadron at Forward Operating Base Bernstein.

The deaths are the fifth, sixth and seventh losses by the 278th, Tennessee's largest National Guard unit, since the regiment deployed last November to the Middle East for a yearlong tour.

"He was looking forward to coming home," said Cathy Reese of her son, Sgt. Reese. "He only had about six to eight weeks left."

In Sgt. Reese's hometown, flags were flying at half-staff Monday, according to his father, Gary Reese.

"He is the only one from the town to die in the war," Mr. Reese said. "He is someone I'm really proud to be the father of."

William Taylor, Sgt. Taylor's father, said his son, who had been in the Guard for seven years, recently re-enlisted with the 278th for six more years.

"He just liked doing what he was doing," said Mr. Taylor, who called his son his fishing buddy. "I talked to him just before this happened, and he felt like he was making a difference."

Angie Hawn, Staff Sgt. Hawn's widow, said this was her husband's first overseas mobilization in nearly nine years with the Guard. But he spent time in Haiti on a peacekeeping mission during three years of active service.

"When he found out in March or April of last year that they (his unit) were being put on alert, it took me two weeks to get over knowing he was going," Mrs. Hawn said. "And after he was deployed for training in June, it took four to six months before I could sleep alone in our bedroom."

Her husband came home in June for an 18-day leave - longer than normal because of a 15-yearold niece having died in a car crash, Mrs. Hawn said.

His return to Iraq was even harder than the initial deployment, though no one knew those would be their "final good-byes," she said.

Mrs. Hawn said her husband's parents and his three sisters' families live near their Middle Tennessee home.

"Oh trust me, every time something has gone on over there, we've held our breath," Mrs. Hawn said. "I talked to him Friday."

Mr. Reese said he could tell the Iraq experience was making a difference in his son's life when Sgt. Reese came home for leave in July.

"If it hadn't been for this tragic end, I don't know what he would have been capable of doing," Mr. Reese said. "He was really blossoming."

Sgt. Reese joined the Guard right after graduating from Cheatham County High School in 2001. Mr. Reese said his son was in the middle of basic training at Fort Knox, Ky., during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"I don't think Lee ever had an enemy other than the one who pulled the trigger on him over there," Mr. Reese said. "You don't ever think this will happen to you."

Mrs. Hawn said her husband had expected his unit to relocate to Kuwait sometime next month, but on Sunday representatives from the U.S. Army came to her house.

While her 12-year-old son Johnathan grieves, Mrs. Hawn said the couple's 4-year-old, Spencer, only knows everybody is upset and is trying to make them feel better.

"It seems that we would wise up," Mrs. Hawn said. "There is never going to be peace in that area - we either need to go in with guns blazing or pull out."

Mr. Reese said he will not let the loss of his only child change his support of the war or the troops serving in Iraq. "Bad-mouthing what we are doing over there dishonors the men we've lost," he said.

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

E-mail Mike O'Neal at moneal@timesfreepress.com

This story was published Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Story Copyright to Chattanooga Times Free press