Soldier returns

By April Silvaggio  

FEBRUARY 22, 2010 9:06 a.m. (0)

Twenty-six-year old U.S. Army Sgt. Jeremiah Wittman comes home to his wife and daughter this morning.

His arrival is two months earlier than expected.

The chartered Dessault Falcon 20 jet bringing him is expected to break through gray clouds and land at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport at 10:23 a.m. in steady rain showers.

A military honor guard awaiting the aircraft will accept Whittman’s casket, and under the watchful eye of family members carry the coffin to a waiting hearse.

Military veterans from the American Legion Post in Greenville said they will await the arrival of the fallen hero.

The Patriot Guard Riders will escort his procession from the airport to Seawright Funeral Home in Inman.

Wittman, of Darby, Mont., was killed just over one week ago on Feb. 13 of injuries he sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in the Zhari province of Afghanistan. Two other soldiers, Staff Sgt. John A. Reiners and Spc. Bobby J. Pagan, also died in the attack.

All three were assigned to the 1^st Battalion, 12^th Infantry Regiment, 4^th Brigade Combat Team, 4^th Infantry Division out of Fort Carson, Colo. It was a career choice that put the three soldiers on the front lines.

It was the second deployment for Wittman, who attended elementary and middle school in Billings before moving to Wyoming. His parents and the majority of his extended family live in the Billings area, friends said.

While Wittman isn’t from the Upstate, it is his wife Karyn’s home.

Friends said Karyn Wittman and the couple’s 3-year-old daughter Miah had come to Chesnee to stay with her parents each time Wittman was deployed. The Wittmans had been married for four years.

Two days before Valentine’s Day, Wittman sent a text message to his wife, promising to call the next day, friends said.

He died before he was able to make good on his promise.

Plans were for him to be home by spring. He was set to leave the Army for good this November.

The visitation for Wittman is planned for noon Saturday at Buck Creek Baptist Church in Chesnee, with the funeral following at 2 p.m.

As of Friday, the number of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom casualties as confirmed by the U.S. Central Command was 5,344.

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