Welcome to Iraq, and a long separation

Gone in a flash
As July ended, Staff Sgt. Joshua Hanson e-mailed his parents with a breezy note and some special requests:

"I was thinking about stuff you could send ... snacks clams oysters stuff like that. "

Hanson, who had recently graduated from college and planned to become a deputy sheriff, signed up to go to Iraq to be with buddies he had served with in Bosnia.

In his e-mail, he told his parents he was no longer working the guard towers and was back on patrols. He signed off: "I love you both."

His mother, Kathy, always reminded Josh — a former altar boy — to bless himself.

Kathy had a habit. She never said goodbye to Josh when they chatted on the phone. When her husband, Robert, wasn't around, Josh had to hang up first.

Aug. 22 was Josh's 27th birthday and he talked with his parents. Something special was coming up next week. He didn't say much more.

Eight days later, at noon, two Bradley vehicles and a Humvee edged out onto the gravel roads on the edge of Khalidiyah, a village of mud huts and palm trees in west-central Iraq.

The plan was to fake out the insurgents and make it look as if they'd abandoned the area while Marine snipers hid, waiting to see if the enemy would plant more IEDs in the road.

Then, it happened.

As the vehicles rolled along at 10 mph, the rear wheel of Hanson's Humvee hit a double stack anti-tank mine. His truck flew in the air, twisting and landing on its wheels.

Sgt. James Bakkila, who was at the rear of the Bradley following the Humvee, saw spare tires and the luggage rack flying, along with shrapnel. The vehicle's doors were blown off or flung open. The gas tank had ruptured. Flames shot in the air.

There were five guys inside. One, two, three, four got out.

"Someone's still in the Humvee!" screamed Bakkila's driver.

It was Josh Hanson, who had been sitting in the rear passenger side, above the diesel tank.

His buddies knew instantly he was gone.

The next day, soldiers stood in silent salute as his flag-draped casket was loaded on a C-130. Soon afterward, the company commander observed simply, "There goes Josh," looking up as the big transport plane passed overhead, starting the long trip home to Minnesota.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

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