Army Capt. John E. Tipton

Died May 2, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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32, of Fort Walton Beach, Fla.; commander of Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; killed May 2 by an explosion while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.

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Family mourns Fort Walton Beach solider killed in Iraq

Associated Press

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. — Four days after their son was killed in an explosion while conducting combat operations in Iraq, motorists slowed to see the memorial in front of the grieving family’s Florida Panhandle home.

More than a dozen yellow ribbons waved in his parents yard and large banner on the fence said: “In Memory of our Beloved Son, Brother, Husband and Father, Capt. John E. Tipton, K.I.A. 5-2-04.”

Tipton, 32, had been standing in an office when shrapnel came through the window and struck him in the head, witnesses told his parents. Tipton, who has ties to the St. Louis area, leaves behind two children, ages 4 and 2, and his wife, Susie.

“He was about the best son a mother or father could ask for,” his father, Dwight Tipton, told the Northwest Florida Daily News. “He was just the perfect son.”

John Tipton’s mother wept quietly on the front porch.

The parents last spoke to their son on April 23, when he called to wish his father a happy birthday. He also e-mailed them a picture of him standing in the headquarters, likely where he was standing when he was killed, the family said.

Tipton came from a military family — his father and grandfather retired from the Army and a family member has served in every war since the Civil War, Dwight Tipton said.

John Tipton enlisted after high school, served in the Middle East during the Gulf War and was commissioned as an officer in 1995. He wanted to be a general, his father said.

He was most recently assigned to Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, based in Fort Riley, Kan.

At the time of his death, Tipton had earned commendations including a Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal and the Valorous Unit award. More will likely be awarded posthumously.

“My son was not only a hero to his family members,” Dwight Tipton said, “but he was also a hero to the rest of the world.”

Tipton grew up in Granite City, Ill., and graduated from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.

Tipton’s sister-in-law, Laura Deluca of Collinsville, Ill., said Tipton and his wife, Susie, met in southern Illinois.

“When they met each other, they found their soul mates,” DeLuca said. “I have never seen a marriage more stable, two people more dedicated to each other.”