Jason laid down his life to save his friends just as each of us would have laid down our lives to save his. God bless and protect his family, help them dear Lord as we ask for your help as well to get us all through this time of loss.
He was one of the best friends I have ever had and God knows he gave more to this world than the world has ever given him. We were all troubled kids, God knows how we made it this far. But no matter how bad and hard this world treated Jason, he gave his life defending his family, his friends, his country. I am proud to say I have known a hero, the only difference is, he had always been a hero to us before he became a hero to his country. I love you brother.....
There is a video on the site if you click on the link above Jason's picture.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070211/ap_on_re_us/iraq_tragic_homecoming;_ylt=Apm2dRBk6BXa77WYLlhV_7vMWM0F
Solace found in slain soldier's newborn
By MEG KINNARD,
Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago
COLUMBIA, S.C. - For weeks, Chief Warrant Officer Jason DeFrenn's family awaited his homecoming, a trip planned as much more than a simple respite from his second tour in Iraq: The nine-year Army veteran was returning to South Carolina to help his wife give birth. Instead, his loved ones are making plans for the 34-year-old Army pilot's funeral.
DeFrenn's Apache helicopter was shot down on Feb. 2 — two weeks before he was supposed to be back in his native state. Wracked by grief, his wife went into labor early, giving birth to a boy just days after her husband's death.
It's newborn Christopher who's now providing the family a measure of solace. "A healing child," is how Jason DeFrenn's father explains it as he alternately gazes at a photo of the son he lost, and at a card stamped with the footprints of his new grandson.
"It's a wonderful thing that's happened here in the last couple of days, in a way," said Garth DeFrenn. "But it's going to be a tough month."
Twenty-three Marines and soldiers have died in helicopter crashes in Iraq since Jan. 20. Most, like DeFrenn, are believed to have been shot down. The latest, which killed seven Marines when their transport helicopter crashed Wednesday, remains under investigation. Four American civilian contractors also were killed in a recent crash.
The deaths have raised questions about whether insurgents are using more sophisticated weapons or whether U.S. tactics need changing.
But in South Carolina, Jason DeFrenn's family is focusing on the new baby and the boy's three siblings, not how their father died. Garth DeFrenn coached Jenny DeFrenn through the delivery.
"I guess I tried to take Jason's place a little bit," Garth DeFrenn said. "I didn't really take Jason's place, but I was just trying to be there for her."
"This is all about Jason and Jenny and those four children," he said. "It started with him doing something very, very remarkable. It went to her regenerating life again."
Jenny DeFrenn struggled at first with choosing a name for her infant, born four days after the crash. She decided on Christopher Andrew, the name that she and her husband had picked months ago, rather than naming him after his father.
"She always did what Jason wanted," Garth DeFrenn said last week. "She always followed him and supported him."
The support took the couple, who met while Jason DeFrenn was managing a Pizza Hut, from South Carolina to Texas, where he was based at Fort Hood after joining the Army nine years ago. He served one tour in Afghanistan before twice going to Iraq.
His father said the military gave DeFrenn the excitement he had sought as a boy while hunting and fishing near their hometown of 5,000 about 60 miles south of Columbia.
"When he was young, he had a spirit of wanting to be a hero," Garth DeFrenn said. "He was one of those kids who wanted adventure."
The DeFrenns are now making plans for Jason's funeral in the small town of Barnwell. He'll be buried in his family's plot, as his father believes he would have wanted. The governor plans to grant a request to lower the state's flags.
On an overcast afternoon last week, during a trip to visit his daughter-in-law and new grandson in a Columbia hospital, Garth DeFrenn walked through a city park that is home to dozens of memorials to war veterans. He paused on a footbridge to look out over the granite monuments and bronze sculptures, and broke into tears.
"I don't think I'll ever come back to this place," he said. "No, I won't ever come back."
SC Ping?
Prayers for his wife and children and his friends and family.
God Bless You. As an Army Vet, I've lost a lot of friends over the years, too. It NEVER gets any easier.
Do what you can for his family. They'll appreciate it. :)