Gold Star Mother Offers Inspiration, Hope
(December 1, 2010) |
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| FORT CAMPBELL, Ky., Nov. 29, 2010 – Just seven months after her 23-year-old son
was killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq, and with three months left before her
husband returns from his deployment to Afghanistan, Sheila Patton isn't facing
the holidays feeling sorry for herself. |
Instead, she's found a calling: helping to bring
inspiration and hope to families of fallen
soldiers at this post that's suffered a heavy
toll in combat losses since the Sept. 11, 2001,
terror attacks.
Patton, the wife of Army Command Sgt. Major
Gregory Patton, command sergeant major for the
101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat
Team, feels the pain of her son's death as if it
had happened yesterday.
Army Staff Sgt. James R. “Jimmy” Patton, died
April 18 during a combat mission in Tikrit,
Iraq. The 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment
soldier, based at Fort Benning, Ga., was serving
his seventh overseas deployment since 9/11 that
had included two previous tours to Iraq and four
deployments to Afghanistan.
His mother learned of his death when a casualty
assistance officer drove up to her in-laws' home
in Indiana while she was visiting to celebrate
her father's birthday.
Patton had every reason to feel alone at the |
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Sheila Patton, here with her son,
Army Staff Sgt. James R. “Jimmy” Patton, who was killed
April 18, 2010, during a helicopter crash in Iraq, said she
has come to peace with his loss as she reaches out to
comfort other Gold Star families. Courtesy photo |
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time. Her children were at home near Fort
Campbell and her daughter-in-law was with family
in her native Ecuador, still unaware of Jimmy's
death. Her husband, who deployed to Afghanistan
just two months earlier, had flown to Iraq to
accompany his son's body to Dover Air Force
Base, Del. |
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Yet from the moment the notification officials delivered the heart-wrenching
news, Patton said, she felt embraced by the Fort Campbell community. It
continued as the family made plans to lay Jimmy to rest at Arlington National
Cemetery, and after the senior Patton left just a week after the funeral to
rejoin his fellow “Rakkasan Battalion” soldiers in Afghanistan's Khost province.
“The support I have been given through the Fort Campbell community has been
absolutely amazing,” she said. “They have been phenomenal in rallying to support
my family. It's been an absolutely heart-warming experience.”
Patton said she cries for her son every day and still feels the devastation of
his loss. But she has also developed a sense of peace about his death that's
helped her cope and begin healing.
“I am a proud momma of a soldier who died fighting for his country and doing
what he loved doing,” she said. “If he had to die before us that is the only way
we could ever have accepted his death: to smile and be proud and honored that
God thought enough of my son to make him a hero.”
Patton said she comforts herself “knowing God took my son for a bigger mission,
because his mission on Earth was complete.”
Meanwhile, Patton has found a new mission as well: reaching out to other
families struggling with their own losses as senior advisor to Fort Campbell's
Survivor Outreach Services program. The program is part of the Army's effort to
help and stay connected with families of the fallen.
As a Gold Star Mother and wife of a soldier serving in harm's way, Patton
recognizes she's in a unique position to comfort families of the fallen. “I have
been where they are, and I can share what they are feeling because I am going
through what they are going through, almost simultaneously,” she said.
Patton shared her story as keynote speaker at a recent candlelight vigil
honoring Fort Campbell's fallen. As the crowd began to disperse, one mother who
was having a particularly difficult time dealing with her own son's combat death
approached Patton. “You have given me hope,” she told Patton. “I just want you
to know that.”
Patton said she's not quite sure where she gets the strength to carry out what
she's come to see as a personal calling. “I guess God and Jimmy have given me
the strength to do this,” she said. “Jimmy has a bigger mission in heaven, and I
think this is my mission on Earth, to be able to share his story and offer hope
to other families.
“If I can give one person hope that they can look at the loss of their soldier
in a different light,” she added, “then that is one person I have helped.” |
Article and photo by Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2010 |
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