WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Family mourns fallen Columbia soldier

Family mourns fallen Columbia soldier

COLUMBIA, SC - Behind every fallen soldier are the people left to mourn his absence. And at the funeral for Private Anthony White, you could feel the heartache of those who loved White most.

To some, he was a friend, to another a brother and to his father - a hero.

Roll call, and the 82nd Airborne Division is missing one of its men. Killed in Iraq two-weeks ago  - Anthony White lays at the front of the room.

Anthony's father, Harry White, spoke, "I'd like to say goodbye to my baby, my youngest son, my soldier."

Now, nearly everyone is crying. But Anthony's dad - a veteran of the 82nd himself - won't crack. "I retired from the military. I told my wife the only time I'd like to put this uniform on is when I'm buried. Well, part of me died. So that's the reason I put it back on, to honor him."

A slide-show was shown in memory of the 21-year-old - one man's son, another man's brother. "He was my best friend, true friend. We had that, no one can take it back."

And this story doesn't have a happy ending. There are wounds that won't go away.

Anthony's father says he'll never forgive his son's unit - which he says didn't let Anthony come home last year when his mother suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm. Dad made a vow - to his baby, his youngest son, his soldier, "I am his voice. And from Bagdhad to Washington, D.C., they will hear his voice."

Reported by Dan Tordjman

Posted by Chantelle Janelle