Army Pfc. Amy A. Duerksen

Died March 11, 2006 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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19, of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; assigned to the 4th Combat Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died March 11 from a non-combat-related injury in Baghdad.

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Fort Hood-based soldier ‘loved people, and they knew it’

By Kasey Jones

Associated Press

BALTIMORE — Pfc. Amy Duerksen grew up an Army brat, the third generation of a military family. But she never really expressed an interest in joining the military herself, until she started looking into financial aid for college.

“She didn’t know where she wanted to go or what she wanted to major in,” her father, Maj. Douglas W. Duerksen, an Army chaplain at Aberdeen Proving Ground, said Wednesday.

Amy decided on the Army, enlisting in April. She was deployed to Iraq with her unit — the 4th Combat Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas — on Christmas Day.

Amy Duerksen, 19, died March 11 of injuries sustained in a non-combat incident on March 8, her father and the Pentagon said.

“Amy was always quick with a smile and gentle in spirit,” her father said. “She loved the Lord and knew she was loved by the Lord, and she had a great heart for sharing that with others.”

Her grandfather, Wayne Duerksen of Copperas Cove, Texas, a Navy veteran who served in World War II, said, “she was the sweetest, most wonderful little girl,” adding that she was only 5-foot-1. “Nobody had a better granddaughter,” he said.

A funeral for Amy Duerksen was held March 17. About 200 people attended the service at a church in Temple, Texas. Although her Army family moved around a lot, they lived mostly in Texas and Germany, Maj. Duerksen said.

“The two themes of freedom and justice were colossal for her,” the Rev. Shannon Soard said at the funeral.

Soard said Duerksen “had a kindness and gentleness for people that caused you to warm to her quickly. Warm smiles, encouraging words and affectionate hugs were the order of the day with Amy. She loved people, and they knew it.”

The Department of Defense has not released details of the incident that led to Amy Duerksen’s death, and her father said the Army has not given the family any more information.

“It doesn’t matter much at this point,” Douglas Duerksen said. “We’re focusing on the future rather than what happened in the past. We’re just thankful we know where she is.”

Amy is also survived by her mother, Michelle, and a sister, April, who is in the Army and is stationed at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Duerksen is the second female soldier from Maryland to die in Iraq. Spc. Toccara R. Green, 23, of Rosedale was killed in an ambush last August.

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Texas soldier loved people, loved her country

TEMPLE, Texas — Pfc. Amy A. Duerksen was remembered Friday as a soldier who loved her country and championed its freedoms.

About 200 people attended Duerksen’s funeral at a church in Temple while more than 120 members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcycle group, gathered outside to counter the protest of six members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan.

The Kansas protesters claim the deaths of soldiers in Iraq are divine punishment for America’s toleration of homosexuals. The motorcycle riders try to shield families from the protesters.

Duerksen, 19, died March 11 in Iraq, the Temple Daily Telegram reported.

“The two themes of freedom and justice were colossal for her,” the Rev. Shannon Soard said in remarks prepared for delivery at the service, the newspaper reported.

Soard said Duerksen “had a kindness and gentleness for people that caused you to warm to her quickly. Warm smiles, encouraging words and affectionate hugs were the order of the day with Amy. She loved people, and they knew it.”

— Associated Press