Army Pfc. Jason D. Hasenauer

Died December 28, 2005 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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21, of Hilton, N.Y.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; killed Dec. 28 when his Humvee accidentally rolled over during patrol operations near Kandahar, Afghanistan.

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Slain soldier was a father for just four weeks

By Ben Dobbin

The Associated Press

HILTON, N.Y. — He was the eldest of four sons, a fresh-faced Army recruit, a father for just four weeks.

Pfc. Jason Hasenauer, 21, a former firefighter, was killed in Afghanistan on Dec. 27 when a roadside bomb toppled a Humvee he was riding in. He was laid to rest Saturday in a rural cemetery in western New York.

“Your tour of duty is ended, not only on this earth, not only in the military, not only in the fire department, but in life,” the Rev. William Spilly said in a eulogy before hundreds of mourners.

“We wish you had been here longer but we thank God for the time God gave you to us. We will not forget you because we loved you.”

Hasenauer was sitting in a machine-gun turret when the bomb explosion overturned his Humvee in Kandahar. He died of head injuries. Four other men in the vehicle were injured.

Assigned to the 82nd Airborne in Fort Bragg, N.C., Hasenauer only learned in early December that his fiancee, Colette Kopp, had given birth to their first child, Kayla.

The last days of Hasenauer’s life, Spilly said, were consumed with “his excitement over being in love, his excitement over being called Daddy.”

Last year was the deadliest in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden. The fighting killed about 1,600 people, including 91 members of the U.S. military, as militants belonging to the Taliban, al-Qaida and other groups have stepped up attacks.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld has ordered the number of troops in Afghanistan to be cut from 19,000 to about 16,500 by next spring.

Hasenauer graduated from high school in 2003 and joined the fire department in this village 25 miles northwest of Rochester. He gave up a job at a department store to join the Army because he had a strong sense of duty and “he wanted to do more,” said his father, Dan.

Six military comrades carried his flag-draped coffin from the church his family attended in nearby Hamlin. His fellow firefighters lined the main street in Hilton as the funeral procession passed through, hoisting a giant U.S. flag atop two fire-engine stepladders. Passers-by stood by their cars with their hands placed over their hearts or in salute.

At the cemetery, while Hasenauer’s infant daughter cried, an honor guard fired three volleys, a bugler played taps and the Stars and Stripes was ceremoniously folded and handed to his family.

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Paratrooper remembered for ‘strong sense of duty’

The Associated Press

HILTON, N.Y. — A 21-year-old soldier based at Fort Bragg, N.C., was killed Tuesday in Afghanistan when his Humvee rolled over due to a roadside bomb, his father said.

Pfc. Jason Hasenauer, who became a father for the first time earlier this month, died of significant head trauma, Daniel Hasenauer told the Democrat & Chronicle of Rochester. Hasenauer said his son, who was from Hilton outside of Rochester, was sitting in the Humvee’s turret with a machine gun at the time of the accident.

“He was working at JC Penney’s and he wanted to do more, so he joined the Army,” Hasenauer said, describing his son as outgoing with a strong sense of duty. “He just wanted to serve and thought it was the right thing to do.”

A 2003 graduate of Hilton High School, Jason Hasenauer was a member of the Hilton Fire Department.

“He was dedicated to the point where he’d been calling the fire department on a weekly basis even while in Afghanistan, and even as late as Monday just to find out was going on in the department and to say ‘hi,”’ Hilton Fire Chief Mark Kalen told the newspaper.

Hasenauer was assigned to the 82nd Airborne. Besides his parents, he is survived by his fiancee Collette Kopp, and daughter Kayla Hasenauer, born Dec. 2.

Brian Bartalo, principal of Hilton High School, told WHAM radio that Hasenauer “tended to put other people in front of himself.” Given that, he said he was not surprised the young man enlisted in the military and made “the ultimate sacrifice.”

Associated Press

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Rochester-area paratrooper killed in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

HILTON, N.Y. — A 21-year-old soldier from western New York was killed Tuesday in Afghanistan when his Humvee rolled over due to a roadside bomb, his father said.

Pfc. Jason Hasenauer, who became a father for the first time earlier this month, died of significant head trauma, Daniel Hasenauer told the Democrat & Chronicle of Rochester. Hasenauer said his son, who was from Hilton outside of Rochester, was sitting in the Humvee’s turret with a machine gun at the time of the accident.

“He was working at JC Penney’s and he wanted to do more, so he joined the Army,” Hasenauer said, describing his son as outgoing with a strong sense of duty. “He just wanted to serve and thought it was the right thing to do.”

A 2003 graduate of Hilton High School, Jason Hasenauer was a member of the Hilton Fire Department.

“He was dedicated to the point where he’d been calling the fire department on a weekly basis even while in Afghanistan, and even as late as Monday just to find out was going on in the department and to say ‘hi,”’ Hilton Fire Chief Mark Kalen told the newspaper.

Hasenauer was assigned to the 82nd Airborne in Fort Bragg, N.C. Besides his parents, he is survived by his fiancee Collette Kopp, and daughter Kayla Hasenauer, born Dec. 2.

Brian Bartalo, principal of Hilton High School, told WHAM radio that Hasenauer “tended to put other people in front of himself.” Given that, he said he was not surprised the young man enlisted in the military and made “the ultimate sacrifice.”