24 years old from Corvallis, Oregon
Company B, 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment, Army National Guard
June 13, 2004
An avid outdoorsman, Spc. McKinley worked as a baker at Alpine Bakery in Corvallis, Ore. Upon his return from Iraq, he hoped to open a juice bar in the college town to provide a drug and alcohol-free environment for young people. Friends and co-workers remember Spc. McKinley as a quiet, caring young man who dyed his hair, sported several tattoos and loved ska and rock music. His senior yearbook picture showed a grinning young man with spiked hair dyed red and green. In other 1998 yearbook pictures, he has purple and blue hair in a mohawk.
Spc. Eric McKinley was killed when a roadside bomb north of Baghdad detonated destroying two vehicles and wounded four other Oregon soldiers. They were identified as Staff Sgt. Phillip Davis, 23, of Albany; Sgt. Matthew Zedwick, 23, of Bend; Cpl. Shane Ward, 23, of Corvallis and Pvt. Richard Olsen, 23, of Independence.
Almost 500 people attended the memorial service for Spc. McKinley at Starker Arts Park in Corvallis. There was a mix of people dressed in either military or punk attire — including McKinley’s six-year-old cousin, who, in tribute, wore his hair in a bright green mohawk.
Coventry Pacheco, McKinley’s fiancee, sat in the first row at his celebration-of-life service. They hadn’t set a wedding date, but were planning to get married.
He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service, a Purple Heart and the Oregon Distinguished Service Award. U.S. and Oregon flags were presented to his parents, Tom McKinley of Salem and Karen Hilsendager of Philomath.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
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3 comments:
Tiger..you have to go to Pat's blog and read the transcript that has been posted there.
It is absurdly long but I swear it is fucking hillarious and gross all at the same time.
It's chat between that midfat bitch you were telling me about and some creepy ass guy from India I think.
OMFG you wont believe what you read LMFAO!!!!
LOL! Loki, that was Wintry_Showers you saw bashing me last night in the Honey_Toast_Chocolate name not Midfat. Midfat is the Paki muzzie that claims she is an American convert who married a muzzie. She was always acting like she was a normal American citizen and mom. She always tried to project that Islam is peace and that she was so peaceful and devout all the time, which is probably why this person tried to get her to cyber. I had heard that there were cyber logs out there. I did see Midfat come into room 4 and have a melt down at the guy who she cybered with cussing him out and hoping he would die. This woman would sit in chat and lie all the time about Islam and then her Info got released last spring and she suddenly was claiming she was taking Chemo even though she couldn’t tell anyone what she was taking it for. Since then she usually hides in ID’s in room 4 spying on everyone. The whole thing is kinda funny.
lol...some people are just not worth the oxygen they breath
That fucking honey bitch thought she was gonna tell me all about you..I sure surprised her didnt I
LMAO!!
Never worry Tiger I aint around the rooms much but when I am I always got your back!!!
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