Army Master Sgt. Clinton W. Cubert

Died April 16, 2006 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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38, of Lawrenceburg, Ky.; assigned to the 2113th Transportation Company, Kentucky Army National Guard, Paducah, Ky.; died April 16 in the Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Lexington, Ky., of injuries sustained Sept. 11, 2005, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee during combat operations in Samarra, Iraq.

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Cubert was ‘outside the mold’, a ‘trendsetter’

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Army National Guard’s 2113th Transportation Company was already on tour in Iraq last year when it received word that a fourth platoon needed to be added to the unit to work as a convoy escort.

The unit didn’t have any experience in protecting large convoys against insurgent attacks in the war-torn country, but Capt. William Serie didn’t hesitate when he named then-Sgt. Clinton Cubert as the new platoon’s leader.

“He was the most dedicated in making sure his soldiers were trained, equipped and ready,” Serie said Monday in a telephone interview from Paducah. “People use the word dedicated and outstanding and things of that nature, but I think those words don’t really express what he did for us. He was truly a person that was outside the mold.”

Cubert was on patrol last Sept. 11 when a roadside bomb went off near the Humvee he was riding in near Samarra. Cubert died Sunday morning at Lexington Veterans Affairs Hospital of the injuries he suffered in the attack. He was 38.

Cubert, who lived in Lawrenceburg, was a 19-year veteran of the National Guard and worked in the combined support maintenance shop at the Guard’s headquarters in Frankfort.

In Iraq, he trained the 30 members of his platoon to develop new tactics in making sure the units they protected in transit arrived at their destination safely.

“When you talk about his platoon, they were the people that came up with a lot of the ideas and the tactics we used in transport,” Serie said. “He was truly a trendsetter.”

Cubert is the 10th Kentucky Army National Guard soldier to die as the result of combat action in Iraq. He is survived by his wife, Amy, and their daughters, Alisha and Sarah.

“Clinton was a great father, husband and soldier,” Amy Cubert said in a statement from the Guard. “He loved his community and his country and will be terribly missed by everyone who knew him.”

Cubert received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart during his service. He was promoted to master sergeant upon returning to Kentucky and was recognized by the Kentucky General Assembly last month. On Monday, Gov. Ernie Fletcher ordered flags at all state office buildings to be lowered to half-staff in Cubert’s honor.

A funeral was planned for Wednesday in Lawrenceburg followed by a graveside memorial with full military honors at Camp Nelson in Nicholasville.

— Associated Press

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Two Kentucky soldiers buried with military honors

Family and friends of two Kentucky soldiers who died of injuries they suffered in Iraq paid their last respects to the men at separate services Wednesday, then buried them with military honors.

In Lawrenceburg, Brother Vernon Huber, pastor of the Anderson Christian Church where the funeral for Master Sgt. Clinton Wayne Cubert was held, told mourners that Cubert lived life to the fullest.

“Clinton loved his family, he loved his friends, and he loved this country that he lived in,” Huber said. “All of us here could learn a lot from the life of Clinton.”

Cubert, 38, of Lawrenceburg, was injured last Sept. 11 when a roadside bomb went off near the Humvee he was riding in near Samarra while on patrol with the Guard’s 2113th Transportation Co. He died Sunday in Lexington of the injuries he suffered in the attack.

In Glasgow, funeral services were held for Spc. James Wilkerson “Will” Gardner, 22, of Glasgow, who was with the 101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell. Gardner died April 10 in Tal Afar of a non-combat-related gunshot wound, according to the Army. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade.

The Rev. Van Robards, pastor of Columbia Avenue Church of Christ, where the funeral was held, shared some of the family’s memories of Gardner.

Robards said the family remembered what a hard worker Gardner was, working to save money to buy his own riding mower so he could earn more money by mowing for others. Gardner also held jobs at the local movie theater, at a florist and delivering newspapers.

The pastor said Gardner knew as a sophomore in high school that he wanted a career in the military.

“His goal was to be a Navy SEAL, but when that didn’t work out, he wanted to join the Army, and when his term was up, he wanted to re-enlist,” Robards said.

At Cubert’s service, Capt. William Serie, who commanded the 2113th, said Cubert, a 19-year veteran of the Guard, had been selected to lead a new platoon formed for “gun-truck missions” escorting convoys. The soldiers were “asked to put themselves between the convoy and anything that threatened the convoy,” Serie said. Cubert turned them into the “most lethal, well-trained gun-truck platoon in the battalion,” he said.

“I believe that God puts special people in our lives to show us what we are capable of,” Serie said. “Clinton was that type of leader.”

Cubert is survived by his wife, Amy Powell Cubert, and daughters Sarah and Alisha.

He was the 10th Kentucky National Guard soldier to die as a result of combat in Iraq. He also was the highest ranking enlisted soldier the Kentucky Guard has lost in Iraq.

Gardner is survived by his wife, Lisa Roberts-Gardner, and two stepdaughters of Clarksville, Tenn.; his parents, James H. and Anne Klapheke Gardner of Glasgow; and a brother and a sister.

At least 36 military members with Kentucky hometowns of record have died as a result of service in Iraq.

— Associated Press