POW-MIA  United States  United Kingdom  Denmark  Bulgaria  Poland  Spain  Ukraine  Italy  Thailand  Estonia  El Salvador  Netherlands  Slovakia  Latvia  Hungary  Australia  Kazakhstan  Fiji  Romania  Canada  South Korea
   The Iraq Page
 
Remembering Those who Lost Their Lives
in the Iraq War of 2003 - 2006
 
 
 Welcome to The Iraq Page Saturday, March 20 2010 @ 09:57 PM MDT  
 Home  :  Contribute  :  Directory  :  Web Resources  :  List of War Dead  :  Printable List of Dead  :  About the Iraq Page  
Articles
Home
Operation Enduring Freedom
Individuals Missing (1)
Individuals US (4353)
Individuals GB (164)
Individuals Italy (32)
Individuals Spain (18)
Individuals Poland (17)
Individuals Ukraine (9)
Individuals Bulgaria (8)
Individuals Denmark (7)
Individuals El Salvador (5)
Individuals Australia (2)
Individuals Slovakia (2)
Individuals Netherland (2)
Individuals Latvia (2)
Individuals Estonia (2)
Individuals Romania (3)
Individuals Czech Republic (1)
Individuals South Korea (1)
Individuals Georgia (4)
Individuals Canada (1)
Individuals Fiji (1)
Individuals Kazakhstan (1)
Individuals Hungary (1)
Individuals Azerbaijan (1)
Individuals Thailand (1)
General News (158)
Site Index
Who's Online
Guest Users: 8
Ads
User Functions
:

:

Don't have an account yet? Sign up as a New User
Lost your password?

Dane R. Balcon

    
Saturday, September 08 2007 @ 12:26 AM MDT
Contributed by: River97
Views: 2,484
Individuals US

Rocky Mountain News -- Dane R. Balcon was 3 years old the day he told his mother he wanted to be a soldier.

By 19, he had fulfilled his dream to be in the Army and serve in Iraq, where he was deployed in July. Just months before, he had the word "Soldier" tattoed down the side of one of his arms.

On Wednesday, Private First Class Balcon was killed in Balad by a road-side bomb.

"Now he's one of God's soldiers," said Balcon's mother, Carla Sizer of Colorado Springs.

Sizer found out about her son's death the way most military families do — from Army soldiers at her doorstep.

"I pulled up to my driveway and I saw that car and I saw soldiers in their military service dress, and I knew," Sizer recalled Friday. "I Knew they were going to see me."



"I was so devastated, and I still am," she said. "I don't think I'll ever be the same."

The news of Balcon's death has also impacted his former classmates at Sand Creek High School, where he graduated in 2006.

Just before noon Friday, some 15 of his friends gathered at the front of the school and set red roses at the base of the flag pole.

"You will be sorely missed," they wrote on a paper taped next to pictures of Balcon in his Army uniform in Iraq.

"He knew everything about the military," said Jamar Harrison, a senior who met Balcon in the school's drum line. Harrison said he thought his friend's knowledge of the military would keep him out of harm's way.

"I had this thought he was invinsible," Harrison said.

The boy who would grow up to be a soldier was born April 27, 1988 at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Ariz.

Although Balcon spent most of his life with Sizer, who is a captain with the U.S. Air Force, he spent many weekends as a child in Fort Bragg, N.C. with his father, John Balcon, who was in the Army.

"His heart was with the Army," Sizer said.

As soon as he began attending Sand Creek High School three years ago, Balcon joined the ROTC program. Classmates recalled he was the type of student who paid attention to every detail of his uniform, and everyone else's, to the point that he could distinguish whether they used starch.

In the halls, in the cafeteria, and in classes, Balcon could be seen with his drum sticks, playing along to his own imaginary drum line. It was a habit that drew the ire of his teachers, some of whom confisicated his sticks. But not for long. He always charmed them into giving them back, said assistant principal David Morgan.

Friday afternoon, Morgan recalled what Balcon told him after graduation.

"You all will be reading about me in the paper one day," Morgan said Balcon told him. "And it's going to be for something good."

Balcon was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. When it was his turn to be sent to Iraq in June, he called his mother and told her he was upset because his trip would be delayed another month.

"He was devastated," Sizer said. "He said, 'I'm not going to get to serve my country.'"

Sizer responded by telling him he should feel fortunate because there are thousands of soldiers in Iraq who would like to be home with their families.

"That's exactly why I want to go," Sizer said her son told her. "Because every day I stay at Fort Hood, someone is away from their family."

By July, Balcon's dream to serve his country finally came true. But by Monday, the last time Sizer talked to her son, he was struggling. He told her of how hot the weather was, that he hadn't bathed in days, and that he missed them.

"He told me that he had already seen too much," Sizer said. "That was his struggle."

As Balcon's family struggles now to deal with his death, they also speak of how he wanted to be a soldier from the beginning.

"To me," said Balcon's grandmother, Cynthia Thomas, "it was destiny."
 
What's Related

Story Options

Trackback

Trackback URL for this entry: http://iraq.pigstye.net/trackback.php/DaneRBalcon

No trackback comments for this entry.
Dane R. Balcon | 6 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Dane R. Balcon
Authored by: anonymous on Saturday, September 08 2007 @ 02:29 PM MDT
Dane,
I would like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family and loved ones, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.

"Gary Owen-The Seventh First!"(7th Cav Motto)
  • Dane R. Balcon - Authored by: anonymous on Sunday, September 09 2007 @ 10:36 AM MDT
Dane R. Balcon
Authored by: anonymous on Tuesday, September 11 2007 @ 04:11 AM MDT
Dane, you have served your country in the most devoted manner and love. At such a young age, you have given more than most have in their lifetime. We are forever grateful for your service to a nation and fulfilled dreams.
- LCDR Chuck Potter USNR
Dane R. Balcon
Authored by: anonymous on Friday, September 14 2007 @ 12:29 AM MDT
dane,
I am confident that you are in heaven, and I pray that God will give your family the strength to get through this trauma. I saw you shortly before you left for Iraq and wish I had given you a hug instead of some macho words. You were a good man and it saddens me you received such a short life. Thank you for loving this country and stepping forward to prove it. I will remember you. I care about you and you have made an impact on my life. Rest in comfort in heaven.
Jeff Lepp
Dane R. Balcon
Authored by: anonymous on Thursday, December 27 2007 @ 06:59 PM MST
God bless him and his family, my prayers are with you John.
Gina McLemore of Fayetteville, NC
Dane R. Balcon
Authored by: anonymous on Tuesday, May 26 2009 @ 01:09 AM MDT
I found out that Dane died earlier this semester and I was sad. The last I heard of him was on the Drill Floor in Denver. I heard his named called and I cheered for him, even thought I was part of another schools team. We had been buddies in Bravo Flight from an AFROTC Summer Leadership School, in fact, he lived right next door to me. He was one of the most liked, best skilled, and brightest out of all the cadets there. He made Squadron First Sergeant of the school early on in that one week we were there.

This past weekend, I was headed to Arizona to a National Leadership Conference and my delegation happened to stop at an IHOP along the way, somewhere in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I saw a paper with what looked to be the Air Force Academy chapel in the background and a casket being carried down the steps. I read the caption and everything hit me. I read through that article and found how to get to this site. I didn't know what to say or how to feel except remorse. So I decided right then and there I would dedicate everything I did at my leadership conference in memory of Dane.

Dane was a great friend to me; unconditionally pledging support for everyone he became teammates with. He was a leader, he knew how to square everyone away, and he had an awesome personality. He was and still is an outstanding individual and I will forever be privileged to have known him. I just wish I would have pulled through and hung out with him before he graduated.

I will miss you Balcon-

Aaron N.
 Copyright © 2010 The Iraq Page
 All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners.		 Powered By Geeklog 
Created this page in 0.40 seconds