Thursday, May 26 2005 @ 08:07 AM EDT
Contributed by: tomw
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 Colorado Springs Gazette -- Sgt. Charles T. Wilkerson transferred from the Marine Corps to the Army in part to be closer to his two young children in Colorado.
The devoted father was killed in Baghdad on Sunday after an explosion near his tent, the Department of Defense said.
 “The details involving Wilkerson’s death are under investigation,†Maj. Gary Dangerfield of Fort Carson’s 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment said in an e-mail this morning from Iraq.
He added that other soldiers involved in the incident “were treated and returned to duty.â€
There were no other details.
Wilkerson, 30, was assigned to the 3rd ACR about six months ago and deployed to Iraq in early March, said his exwife, Sariah Wilkerson of Arvada.
He had remarried two months before leaving for the Middle East, and his wife, Whitney Wilkerson, lives in Colorado Springs.
Whitney Wilkerson did not return a telephone call, but other family members described her husband as passionate about soccer — a game he loved to play — and deeply generous.
“He was always trying to help someone financially or emotionally,†said one of his brothers, Gene Wilkerson. “He’s helped out every last person in the family. As long as we were OK, he was all right, too.â€
His mother, Tomasa Goodwin of Columbus, Ga., said her son, the third of six children, was an excellent father.
While in Iraq, Wilkerson regularly wrote to 6-year-old Miriam and 4-year-old Colin, with recent letters referencing the importance of church.
“His faith in God was renewed as he was over there,†said Sariah Wilkerson, who said her ex-husband had gone on a church mission to Uruguay in 1994. “Being in the environment that he was in, I guess it really changed his priorities. The last letter that he wrote to my son just talked about Jesus.â€
To his daughter, he described Iraq as dry and smelly and asked her to draw him some pictures.
“Keep dancing for Daddy†he wrote, referring to her ballet classes.
Wilkerson said she last heard from her ex-husband last week, via e-mail.
“Please tell Miriam and Colin that I love them and miss them very much! I sent them another letter today. . . . Can you please send me some pictures of them?
“If you’re to (sic) busy, no big deal but please just make sure that I think about them every day which is why this is HELL for me, b/c (because) I can’t be near them for an entire year and to top it off, I’m in this place,†he wrote.
Wilkerson enlisted in the Marine Corps in July 1998 and served four years at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
He then was assigned to a Marine Reserves unit in Kansas City, Mo., for 1½ years before transferring to the Army, his ex-wife said.
Wilkerson grew up in Columbus, Ga. In addition to his children, mother and his wife, he is survived by his stepfather, Stephen Goodwin of Georgia; his father, Thomas Wilkerson of Alabama; and three brothers and two sisters. |
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CONNIE