Army Staff Sgt. Terry Hemingway
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/5626503.htm Two brothers to return from Iraq - one dead, one alive
GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press
WILLINGBORO, N.J. - Eva Hemingway-Shannon has hardly been away from the television since the war began in Iraq nearly a month ago. When she saw a Bradley fighting vehicle blown up on Thursday, she tried to distract herself from thoughts that her son was on it.
The next day, she learned Army Staff Sgt. Terry Hemingway, 39, had been aboard the vehicle when the car next to it exploded. He was killed.
"I'm proud that Terry was my son, and I'm also proud that my son gave his life to a worthy cause," Hemingway-Shannon said, recalling images of Iraqis last week after it seemed that Saddam Hussein's regime had been toppled. "When I saw the people shouting and jumping for joy, it made me feel good."
Hemingway's remains will be flown back to the United States in the next few days, along with his younger brother. Army Sgt. Gary Hemingway, 35, had been serving in the 4th Infantry Division in Iraq but was reassigned to escorting his brother's body.
He called home Saturday and Sunday. "He was trying to be brave," Hemingway-Shannon said.
Both brothers followed their stepfather, the Rev. Evine Shannon, into the Army. Shannon served for 26 years and was in both Vietnam and the first Gulf War.
"I told them, 'Her and I work every day.' They're not going to sit around the house. I told them, 'Get a job or go into the Army,'" Shannon said. "They went into the Army and made the best of it."
Terry Hemingway joined soon after he graduated from Trenton High School. He did one tour in the service, then took the state police test. But he decided he'd rather be in the military and re-enlisted.
A member of the C Company, First Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, based at Fort Benning, Ga., he served in Korea and Panama during his 19 years in the service. He was planning to retire from the service later this year.
His wife, Darlene, was his high school sweetheart. He also is survived by three children, Danisha, 7; Venetia, 9; and Terry Jr., 11. In school photos, the children flash the same life-of-the-party smile as their father.
Sgt. Hemingway's sister, Jackie Hicks, said the family was shocked when the couple announced they were expecting the first time.
"Before they had kids, they were single, living the life," said Hicks, 37. "They'd come home from the service on leave, they'd be hanging out. ... They wouldn't change a baby or pick one up."
But the man who was known for having a joke for every occasion became a devoted father, his family said.
He also had had a lot of luck, his stepfather said.
It was a night of hard partying that kept him from being aboard Pan Am Flight 103 when it exploded over Scotland in 1988. The next year, he drove over the Bay Bridge connecting San Francisco and Oakland about 15 minutes before an earthquake caused part of it to collapse.
His good fortune was not with him Thursday.
On Sunday, the flag in front of his mother and stepfather's rancher was at half-mast.
Hemingway-Shannon held a one-page letter from her son as she sat in the breakfast nook of her home, which had become a depot for friends and family with food and condolences, and reporters with questions.
Many lines in the Feb. 26 letter were pure Terry to her.
As she read them, she sometimes held off the tears and sometimes let them out.
"'Hey Mommy. How are you and Dad?' He always started off with, 'Mommy.' He always called me 'Mommy' unless he was mad at me," Hemingway-Shannon said.
His thanks for a package demonstrated the gratefulness she said her son always showed.
He bragged about his role as commander of two Bradleys.
He asked for information on how to reach his brother and for his sister to send him a CD he could play in one of the Bradleys.
The family is planning a funeral for Saturday. They asked Gov. James E. McGreevey to attend when he called Sunday to offer his condolences.
"The knowledge of service and sacrifice on behalf of our nation will hopefully provide comfort to the family during this difficult time," McGreevey said.
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