In Memory on this Memorial Day....

This article was published in the Tuscaloosa News

Jeremy F was 3 years old when his baby brother was born. Jeremy told his mother he wanted to name the baby Nicholas. “He liked the TV show 'Eight Is Enough’ and got the name Nicholas from the boy on that show," said Patsy F, Jeremy’s mother. The boys grew up in the same small town in the northeast corner of the state that their father, Bobby F, grew up in.

“We’re a close-knit community," said Darnell G , a friend of the family who knew Jeremy all of his life and was one of his high school teachers. “Jeremy was buddies with my son and daughter. He was a good buddy to everyone he knew. He was raised with my children. They basically grew up together."

When her 17-year-old daughter, Lori, was killed by a drunken driver the year Jeremy was a senior in High School, Jeremy helped Mrs G get through it. “I nearly lost my mind," she said. “Jeremy gave me a lot of comfort during that time. He was a loving child."

She said Jeremy was also a good student, and played football for the Eagles. “He played hard in the sports he played. He was competitive and was dedicated to his team. He thought he was always supposed to win," Mrs G said. “He hated to lose at anything." And that made him a good soldier, she said. Jeremy joined the National Guard after graduating from high school in 1995.

About a year later, he went into the Army. “He always wanted to be in the military," Patsy F said. “He knew for a long time he wanted to be in the Army." He was stationed in Korea when terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. “I’m not sure when he left for the Philippines, because it was a secret mission," Mrs F said. “But he let me know in January that he was there training troops as part of Operation Enduring Freedom."

Bobby F heard on the radio on Feb. 22, 2002, that a Special Operations Chinook helicopter had crashed in the Philippines. The family knew it was the same kind of helicopter their son flew on as crew chief. “We discussed it and were afraid he was on it," Patsy F said. “We both had a fear. But when we didn’t hear anything by the next morning, we went on to work. We thought maybe not.

“But as soon as I was told I had visitors in the lobby, I knew." All eight Nightstalkers, the name adopted by members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Training Company, aboard the aircraft were killed when it exploded.

Mrs G said the whole town was devastated to lose one of its children. And it was particularly hard on the family, because Jeremy’s body was never found. Sgt. Jeremy F was 25. “They found everybody else but him," Mrs G said. “He was in the middle of the aircraft, using the radio in the maneuver they were doing, when it broke apart and exploded. We had hope for so long that he’d be found somewhere, but they found nothing," she said.

Knowing how hard it is to deal with the loss of a child, she said she at least had a body to bury when her daughter was killed. She had some closure. “Patsy didn’t. You know Patsy will look for him every day of her life. I will, too," Mrs G said. “It’s hard for me to take, and I was just a friend and teacher."

She said before her daughter was killed, Lori and Jeremy hung out together with a group of friends and worked together at a potato shed where they would bring in potatoes out of the field, grate and sack them. “Then she’d cook for them," Mrs G said of her daughter. “The whole gang would go over to Pasty F's house at lunchtime, and she’d cook potatoes."

Patsy F said her son was mischievous and loved to have fun. “He was a big cut-up," she said. Mrs G, who stayed in touch with Jeremy after he went overseas, said he was always pulling jokes and especially got a kick out of calling her “old woman." “He always had something planned. You didn’t know what he was going to pull on you, say to you, do to you," she said. “But he was a really good kid.

“I’ll always remember that little smirk on his face, that mischievous grin." The family's church, New Home Baptist Church, built a park in honor of Jeremy with a memorial stone in the pavilion. The park was dedicated on Nov. 10, 2002. “He died for a cause he believed in, defense of the United States of America," Mrs G said.

What Mrs G didn't tell you was that Jeremy had a special seat in her class....right by her desk! He tormented that poor woman and at times I thought she just might kill him herself! He used to have this word that he said to just tear her nerves up...I won't say the word online, but she made him go over an lick her chalkboard every time he said it...as punishment! Once while he was at the board, she had a visitor come in to her classroom and didn't pay much attention to Jeremy until everyone started laughing.....Not only did he lick the chalkboard,...he licked the actual word she hated on the chalkboard!

I had athletic training with him everyday for 3 years and he was always my spotter. He kept us all laughing and I always thought he just might get me laughing so hard I'd drop the weights on myself,...but he saved me everytime!

Rest in peace, my friend.......You are missed!