Schofield soldier killed in Afghanistan
An Army carry team carries the transfer case containing the remains of Army Cpl. Kevin W. White of Westfield, N.Y. upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Del. on Wednesday May 4, 2011. The Department of Defense announced the death of White who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A 22-year-old Schofield Barracks soldier, who deployed to Afghanistan last month, was killed Monday by a roadside bomb near the Pakistan border.
The Pentagon said Cpl. Kevin W. White, of Westfield, N.Y., died in Kunar province of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment.
Pat White, the soldier’s mother, said her last contact with Kevin was through Facebook where he said Bin Laden was "taken out," the Associated Press reported. He was killed just shortly after he posted that message.
‘He knew things would get real hot after bin Laden was taken out,” Pat White said. ”He said, tongue in cheek, ‘Good thing I’m not right next to Pakistan, and the spring fighting season started yesterday.”’
The Whites are at for Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, awaiting their son’s body.
White’s family told WIVB television station in Buffalo that he was an Army squad leader and was recently promoted from corporal to sergeant.
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Pastor Thayne Bodenmiller, White’s minister, told the television station: "He was just a fine young man. Any parent would be proud to have him as a son."
He said that this was White’s second combat tour after joining the Army in 2006. He had served in Iraq, his family said.
During his 15-month tour in Iraq, White suffered a close call when a convoy on which he was lead driver was struck by a roadside bomb, his mother told the Post Journal in Jamestown, N.Y.
”Because he was lead driver, his vehicle is the one that got hit,” Pat White said. ”It almost made it in, but that last layer of armor stopped it.”
Her son was an adventurous soul, Pat White said, and enjoyed his time in Hawaii.
”He tried all the Hawaiian things – snorkeling, surfing, bodyboarding, spear fishing, whatever,” she said. ”But he looked forward to coming home on leave, and he was going to learn how to ride motorcycle.”
White left Hawaii for Afghanistan on April 7, but only arrived at Combat Outpost Honaker Miracle within the past couple weeks, his mother said.
Schofield Barrack’s 3rd Bronco Brigade deployed to Afghanistan three weeks ago. It is is the unit’s fourth combat tour.
