Tuesday, November 01 2005 @ 08:41 AM MST
Contributed by: tomw
Views: 3,311
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 KSDK-The death of a local soldier in Kuwait is a mystery to fellow members of the Missouri Army National Guard.
 Members of the 1035th Maintenance Battalion got the news this weekend that a popular First Lieutenant was dead. A pall hung over the drilling fields of Jefferson Barracks. The legendary base had lost one of its own.
First Lt. Debra Banaszak of Bloomington, Ilinois, was a member of the 1035th Mainentance Company. Her unit was deployed last January and sent to Iraq, then redeployed to Camp Victory, Kuwait.
Friday, the Department of Defense confirmed she had died of "a non-combat related injury," but would say little more.
A military investigation has been launched.
"There is one underway, and we're trying not to speculate while it's underway," says Lt. Col. James Tate of the Missouri National Guard. Lt. Col. Tate remembers training Banaszak in officers candidate school. "Very upbeat, always had the right attitude," he said of her.
But the challenge of command handed Tate a difficult task: breaking the painful news to Banaszak's 15 year old son.
"I've often had to tell soldiers about family members who have passed away, but this time I actually had to inform her son that his mother had passed away. So that's extremely difficult for me, but, although difficult for me, it's nowhere close to the kind of pain her family is going through," he said.
Officers here at Jefferson Barracks say that 1st Lt. Debra Banaszak liked the military life, and she had recently applied for full time positions at the Barracks as recently as three weeks ago.
Her body will be flown back to the States, perhaps to join other service men and women who have gone before her.
And fellow officers vow not to leave her memory behind.
"We know she died in service to her country, and we're very proud of her for that, and we'll make sure that we remember that," says Lt. Col. Tate. |
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Maam, I would like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.
A grateful citizen