It seems we go "up north" a LOT! Oh wait, we DO!!! This weekend's trip was another having to do with Denzel.
Dad and I had originally planned to leave on Friday, but things changed. Instead of leaving Friday, I took
Amelia and Dezmond, and one of my piano students (Audrey Godfrey), and another neighbor girl (McKenna Staheli) horseback riding!! And then Friday evening was spent at home, relaxing, having a late dinner, moving/organizing stuff in the garage, and then sleeping in on Saturday morning!!! (Yes, 7:00 is sleeping in!!) Dad and I did some yard work, played with Jaida, then Dad went to the Swiss Days Parade with Nat and I went to Colin Ence's (piano student) soccer game. I'm SO glad I did. His father had to be in the parade (he's a city councilman), and his siblings went to the parade with the grandparents, so mom and baby sister were the only ones at his game. But then his PIANO TEACHER came to watch him play.
During a timeout he came over to give me a hug, and I told him "You will ALWAYS be more important than Swiss Days!!" And he played a great game!
After the parade and game, Nat and I went horseback riding...just the two of us. That doesn't happen very often and we really enjoyed our ride out to Snow Canyon! When we got back, Nat helped me plant a bunch of broccoli and cauliflower in the community garden...it should have been done two weeks ago, but I just keep running out of time. Hopefully it will be "blessed" and catch up in the growth department before it gets too cold!!
Dad and I FINALLY got on the road a little after 6 p.m...got in at the Springville Barton's after 10, watched some football, then headed to bed.
Sunday we went to church in Salt Lake City with the Madsen's. Erika came up from BYU, too, so that was a lot of fun. They loved meeting Jaida, and Zeus seemed to enjoy her, too! We had dinner with Kent, Trish, Dane and Erika after church. It was delicious, and we felt bad we had to rush...but we only had 30 minutes to get down to Camp Williams...we made it with two minutes to spare!
There were two empty chairs next to a woman also wearing a gold star, so Rod and I sat by her, and I asked about her son. He had died in April of
this year. I put my arms around her and said, "Ohhhh, I'm so sorry. You're still raw!!"
We talked a bit here and there after the meeting began, and I discovered she was there alone because her husband had to be in Logan with a couple of their other children. What a brave woman Pat Gannon is! Her son died in a firearms accident at a base back East. He had recently enlisted. Sad! Pat spoke just before I did.
The entire event was wonderful!! I'm so glad Sean Colmenero said, "Mom! You're going!!" when I was initially hesitant about making yet another trip to Salt Lake, and having to deal with MORE emotions. It was good to hear different stories of military sons, the loss felt by their families, and to feel the camaraderie of each other. There were several patriotic musical numbers performed by the City Church Worship Band, and they were each very well done. And I enjoyed being able to talk about Denzel. I hope it was beneficial to others there.
When we first walked in, there was a black couple ahead of us. The mom did not speak in the meeting, but I noticed she and her husband were wearing Gold Stars. I made my way over to them after the program. They were kind of hanging back, not really talking with anyone. I said, "You didn't speak, but I would really like to hear your story." I am SO glad I did. There are details I can't really write about in a public forum, but I felt very honored that they would share their story with me. Life can be VERY hard at times!! I invited them to come to St. George...we need to do a therapy ride...or twenty!!! And I was reminded, again, how important it is to FORGIVE!!
Dad and I enjoyed talking with so many people after the event, AND we got to see the 9/11 Memorial that is making its way across the country. There was a HUGE American flag over the semi-truck carrying the memorial and the 7 ton chunk of one of the Twin Towers. It was rather impressive. And the Marine bulldog, "Gunner" was impressed that Jaida was there, too! *_*
Well, that about sums it up. Another great experience...reminding us how much we love, and miss, Denzel!!
* * * *
Ssg. Roderick Denzel Hunt was born November 17, 1980, in
Provo, Utah. He died April 29th,
2012 in Riverton, Utah. He was the
oldest of 7 the seven children born to my husband, Rod, and myself.
We should have known from an early age that Denzel would do
well in the military. At three and four
years old he would throw rocks like all the other kids. The only difference is he would HIT HIS
TARGET, whether it be the neighbor’s brand new truck when it was driving by, or
the friend’s older brother who threw rocks at Denz, but missed. It seems we were always having to apologize
to someone for Denzel’s uncanny ability to hit that at which he aimed.
When he was a teenager, the big fad was paintball guns. Denzel dreamed of owning one like all of his
friends. He was sure he would never get
one because we didn’t have a lot of money, but he still wrote a letter to
“Santa” (at 14 years of age!) telling
him how badly he wanted that gun. Denzel
wrote some journal entries, which I recently came across, dated December of
1994…EIGHT in all describing how much he wanted the paintball gun, how he
didn’t think he’d get it, how he hinted at it…tried to plant all kinds of ideas
in his parents’ head, etc. And then, his
Christmas Eve entry detailed how his parents hadn’t given any indication about
buying a paintball gun, but there was “still a chance” he might get it. Later he wrote about Christmas
morning…waiting for the parents to get up, looking through the wrapped presents
for the right-sized box, and the disappointment of not getting the gun. However, when he opened a small present, it
contained a gun barrel; the next present held the hand grip, another had the
site, and on and on. He got his
paintball gun, and he wrote how it was the best Christmas ever!
The downside of the paintball gun was Denzel's subsequent target shooting practice! He used Brandon, his 11 year old brother. . . and Denzel
didn’t miss then, either.
Fast forward over the years and Denzel joined the 222nd
Field Artillery, also known as the Triple Deuce in St. George, Utah. He found a great niche with this unit, and it
became his second family. He loved when
they would have “family day” at the armory so he could show his family all the
cool stuff he got PAID to do. He especially
enjoyed showing off “THE GUN.” I made
the mistake, once, of calling it a tank.
Denzel explained nicely, but firmly, “Mom, it’s NOT a tank…it is a GUN.”
And then came several deployments. The first was to help with security for the
Olympics. It was fun to travel up north
for this once-in-a-lifetime event, AND to see our son serving his country at
the same time.
The second deployment was stateside, then the third
deployment came and off to Iraq he went.
We always kept an open communication, and war was no different. The first email we received from our son told
a little about his flight to Iraq, and that he was there. Then it proceeded to say, “Now, if you’re
going to freak out about stuff…DON’T READ THE REST OF THIS EMAIL.”
Of course, I read the rest of the email which told of an
incoming missile that apparently wasn't
“that close,” but due to them being new in-country and in an actual war zone,
he and his buddies all hit the ground like they had been taught. The only damage done was to their egos…as
all the other guys who were used to this day in and day out occurrence just
looked at the guys on the ground and said, “Yeah, they’re new!” and went on
their way.
I thought the incident rather humorous, but I responded to
the initial statement about “freaking out.”
I boldly said in all CAPS: “DO
YOU KNOW YOUR MOTHER??? DO I FREAK OUT
ABOUT STUFF??? NO!! I WANT DETAILS!!”
My feeling was, all of these guys are in the same boat,
going through the same, sometimes harrowing, experiences. And as a mother, I KNEW my son would need to
de-brief at times and not worry that his mom would freak out if he told her
some tough stuff. And he did need to
debrief!
|
|
One of Denzel's phone calls was about the
high-tension cable that snapped, nearly decapitating
TJ Larsen, as Denzel watched! Very traumatic for both!!
|
There were times it was just nice for him to call home and
tell us about his activities. Other
times he needed to talk. Sometimes he’d call and say, “I’m okay…I just
need to tell you what happened today.” One
time he called and said, “We just got attacked by a suicide bomber. We’re okay, but this guy blew himself up by
our mess tent…and, well, I just needed to hear your voice.”
 |
| Denzel saying good-bye before his second deployment to Iraq in 2011 |
One very memorable phone call told about the 90 minute drive
from his foot patrol assignment to the military base.
This was always a very dangerous drive.
One day Denzel’s unit was 15 minutes behind the convoy in front of them,
which was standard procedure, leaving little time between convoys. As his unit traveled on high alert for
IED’s, Denzel spotted a body lying in the road. He radioed ahead and the front convoy had not
seen a body in the same area. Following
protocol, the unit kept their distance and radioed for the bomb squad to
come.
One of Denzel’s guys asked
permission to “just hook onto the body and pull it out of the road” so they
could continue on. Denz later told me,
“Mom, I just had the worst feeling when I considered going and dragging the
body out of the way. So, I waited for
the bomb guys to get there. Sure enough,
it turns out the ‘body’ was a dummy rigged with a bunch of explosives. If we would have tried to move it, the remote
detonator would have been set off and it would have killed whoever tried to
move it.”
I was so glad for his safety, but I was also grateful that
he could call and talk to me and his father about difficult things.
Now, the last month of Denzel’s life we talked nearly every
day. Denzel had returned from his second
deployment to Iraq a few months previous, and continued teaching as an
Instructor at Camp Williams. He was
dealing with some difficult things. He
wanted to get help, but told me, “Mom, I can’t until I get my Lieutenant
commission. I’ll have it in a few weeks,
then I can get some help.”
Well, a series of events escalated on Sunday, April 29th,
and he ended his life. He had two weeks until
his commission went through…but it was two weeks too late.
All those who knew and loved Denzel have missed him every
day since that awful night. However, we
also know that a tremendous amount of good has come about because of the things
learned after his death and because of his death.
The pain of losing our son has been extreme. We love him.
We miss him. But his death has
also made our hearts more compassionate to others who have experienced loss in
their lives. No, it’s not the “same” for
anyone, but it is loss, and we have extra empathy for all those who get hit
with this extremely difficult experience.
God bless each of you.
Last Friday Dezmond (and his mom) went horseback riding with me. He LOVED it!! The whole time Dezmond would hum to the rhythm of the horse. If we were walking, it was a slow, "huuum-huuum-huuum-huuum" but if we were galloping, it became a much faster "hum-hum-hum-hum!" We all enjoyed that ride!!
During a timeout he came over to give me a hug, and I told him "You will ALWAYS be more important than Swiss Days!!" And he played a great game!
Sunday we went to church in Salt Lake City with the Madsen's. Erika came up from BYU, too, so that was a lot of fun. They loved meeting Jaida, and Zeus seemed to enjoy her, too! We had dinner with Kent, Trish, Dane and Erika after church. It was delicious, and we felt bad we had to rush...but we only had 30 minutes to get down to Camp Williams...we made it with two minutes to spare!
There were two empty chairs next to a woman also wearing a gold star, so Rod and I sat by her, and I asked about her son. He had died in April of this year. I put my arms around her and said, "Ohhhh, I'm so sorry. You're still raw!!"
Dad and I enjoyed talking with so many people after the event, AND we got to see the 9/11 Memorial that is making its way across the country. There was a HUGE American flag over the semi-truck carrying the memorial and the 7 ton chunk of one of the Twin Towers. It was rather impressive. And the Marine bulldog, "Gunner" was impressed that Jaida was there, too! *_*
