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Good News From The Front

Carrying God's Word in a war zone

Saturday, January 8, 2005
By DEAN BAKER, Columbian staff writer

It's a long trek from a job managing delivery routes for The Columbian to carrying religious services to troops in the mountains of Iraq, but that's where Army Capt. Edward Willis has gone.

Willis, 41, a 1981 Hudson's Bay High School graduate and a U.S. Army chaplain, spent Christmas ministering to troops at a Muslim shrine on a mountaintop outpost near Sinjar, Iraq. He flew in by helicopter along with a Christmas meal for the troops.

Willis narrowly missed being in the mess tent in Mosul on Dec. 22 when a suicide bomber killed 22 people: 14 U.S. soldiers (six of them based at Fort Lewis), four U.S. civilian contractors, three Iraqi security men and an unidentified non-American. Sixty-nine people were wounded, including 44 soldiers.

One of the wounded was a 1999 graduate of Camas High School, Army Spc. Don Larson, 24, who suffered burns and is recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. His parents, Jim and Marsha Larson, live in Chehalis.

Luckily, Willis flew to other parts of Iraq that day, ministering to troops.

"He had been in Mosul for the first month he was there, and the tent that was bombed was his dining tent," said his wife, Leanne, 34. "He was away at the time of the bombing at Tal Afar."

While Willis is at war, Leanne and the couple's three children celebrated Christmas and New Year's at the home of his parents, Ed and Mardelle Willis of Vancouver. They also celebrated the 7th birthday of the couple's oldest child, Lindsey. Leanne, Lindsey and the little girl's two brothers, Thomas, 3, and Connor, 18 months, returned Tuesday to their home, a duplex at Fort Lewis.

Leanne Willis' mother and stepfather, Kathy and Morry Hitchcock, also live in Vancouver. Her father, Charles Stephens, a retired Vancouver teacher, lives in Costa Rica.

"There are times when this was really hard," said Leanne, a 1987 graduate of Hudson's Bay High School. "We had to redefine ourselves now that daddy was gone, but we settled into it. We've got lots of great friends, and my family is very supportive."

And, she explained later, she also finds help through prayer.

"I'm really not worried because I trust in God," she said. "He is the one who allowed us to have this time in our life. We feel that God really led us into the Army, in the ministry that my husband is good at. He enjoys ministering to the soldiers. We'll wait and see what else God has for us."

Willis has been in Iraq since Oct. 3 and is scheduled to return home in October.

"We've been apart for two or three months before, but this is the first time he's been gone out of the picture for that length of time," Leanne said, admitting she has her hands full taking care of three children, and home-schooling Lindsey.

In a telephone call from Iraq, Willis said he's torn by his duty. "I love the work, but I love my family," he said.

"There's 'good busy' and there's 'bad busy' in this work," said Willis, who is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Free Church.

"I appreciate the privilege of sharing in people's suffering," he said. "The situation is bad, but it's not bad work by any means."

He said he conducts seven church services a week and Bible studies at so-called "forward operating bases" in the battle zones. He also counsels both the wounded and dying, he said.

"I can't really give you any details on what we are doing," Willis said."We are seeing a bit of activity, and things seem to be going well."

Willis said mostly he works directly with soldiers, doing family and stress counseling, and suicide prevention awareness, and working especially hard on "spiritual fitness."

He said his living quarters are similar to a mobile home.

"The containers we live in are good, and the food is incredible. They're taking really good care of the troops," he said.

Willis, who moved to Vancouver with his family in 1976, worked at The Columbian from 1984 to 1987.

"I met Ed in January of '84 and hired him as a route manager for three years," said Jim Cox, a supervisor in The Columbian circulation department. "He was an ambitious kid. He was a pretty wild fellow when I met him. The Lord toned him down."

He worked on the staff of several Vancouver-area churches and joined the Army Reserves in 1995 right after graduating from Multnomah Bible College in Portland. In the mid-1990s, he also played the baritone horn and was lead vocalist with the 104th Division band at Vancouver Barracks.

In 1997, he transferred to Army active duty and spent two years as a chaplain's assistant at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. In 2003, he completed Western Seminary in Portland and became an active-duty chaplain. He went to the war zone in October.

"I appreciate the Army," said Leanne. "I love the Army. I believe in what they are doing. I believe in helping the Iraqi people, and I believe that God will take care of it. I trust Him."