 KTHV -- Bobby West had the military on his mind at a very young age. At seventeen, he left Beebe High School and enlisted in the National Guard.
But after 9/11 he went full time and eventually landed in Iraq.
 “8:30 night before last.” Marge Liddle says that's when the nightmare began for her family.
“The military, Army came to her door and she knew immediately. Her question to them was which one?” says Liddle.
Liddle's nephews both went to Iraq. Bobby was the one killed Tuesday. He and his brother, Patrick, were always close growing up. The same goes for when they were in Iraq, serving 45 miles apart from each other. But their mom, Liddle's sister Linda, is frantic not only because one son is dead, but because she hasn't heard from the other.
“That's why you're talking to me," explains Liddle. "We're still waiting for Patrick. We understand he's been informed."
The news of Bobby's death spread quickly through the town of five thousand, especially at Beebe High School. Hal Crisco was an assistant principal when Bobby went to school there.
Crisco says, “I just found out this morning, it's just shock. You're never really prepared for that kind of news especially one you consider your own. For someone that young, it's just shock really."
At 23, Bobby was traveling the world, defending democracy and helping to create one. Yet he was cut down in the prime of his life.
Liddle says, “It's something you probably thought of with two boys in the military, but you never expect to get the call and you have faith they get through.”
Bobby West is the second former Beebe High School student to lose his life in Iraq. Hal Crisco says last September Steven Valdez was killed. |
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.
"Regulars By God!"(22nd Inf. Motto)