TIFTON — A soldier from Tifton and three others in his battalion were killed last Wednesday in Baghdad when their vehicle struck an explosive, the military announced Monday. Staff Sgt. Darren Patrick Hubbell, 38, was stationed out of Fort Stewart in Hinesville.
According to Kevin Larson, Fort Stewart’s chief of public communications, Hubbell was a health care specialist, or combat medic. He joined the U.S. Army in 1995 and went to Fort Stewart in May 2001.
Hubbell was reportedly serving his third tour of duty in Iraq, and his son, Darren Jr., also served in Iraq and was injured in January during a roadside bomb attack, according to a church’s prayer chain e-mailed to The Tifton Gazette Tuesday. Larson said Tuesday that he didn’t have any additional information about Hubbell or his survivors.
As is the custom, an eastern redbud tree will be planted on Warriors Walk in Hinesville in a ceremony later this month.
“Every month when we have a soldier lost in combat, we have a ceremony for that soldier,” Larson said.
Hubbell said the eastern redbud is the tree of choice for the living monuments because it blooms in early spring. It was early spring in 2003 when the first Fort Stewart casualty happened during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now there are 336 of the trees lining both sides of Cottrell Field, the same field soldiers are welcomed home on when they return from deployments. Each tree represents a soldier from the Third Infantry Division who has died.
“We plant the trees as a living monument so we don’t forget our fallen,” Larson said. “We will plant a tree for every soldier who gives the ultimate sacrifice.”
Also killed last Wednesday were Maj. Sid W. Brookshire, 36, of Missouri; Spc. Joe G. Charfauros Jr., 33, of Rota, Mariana Islands; and Pfc. David J. Bentz III, 20, of Newfield, N.J. All of the fallen soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division at the southeast Georgia Army post.
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Tifton soldier killed in Iraq
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