Army Pfc. Isaiah R. Hunt

Died November 15, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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20, of Green Bay, Wis.; assigned to the 782nd Main Support Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; killed Nov. 15 when the driver of his military vehicle accidentally struck another vehicle in Baghdad.

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Funeral held for Wisconsin soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

Pfc. Isaiah Hunt had expected to be home from Iraq in time for Christmas and planned to get tattoos with a couple of friends when he returned.

But the 20-year-old soldier was killed Nov. 14 north of Baghdad when he was thrown from a gun turret as the vehicle he was in collided with another in Iraq.

His friends got their tattoos, but the crosses on their left shoulders served as symbola of remembrance at Hunt’s funeral Tuesday instead of symbols of camaraderie.

Several hundred people gathered Tuesday at Sts. Edward & Isidore Catholic Church in Suamico for the funeral.

The tattoos were discussed by another friend, Justin Grorich, who spoke during the service.

Hunt, a 2002 Bay Port High School graduate, was the son of Mike Hunt, who played linebacker for the Green Bay Packers between 1978 and 1980. Isaiah Hunt was a truck driver and gunner in the 82nd Airborne’s 497th Transportation Company.

The unit drives 5-ton trucks with weapons in the back which are essentially mobile machine gun platforms, said the commander of his company, Capt. Brian Wolford.

“He knew there was going to be danger. Every one of them did,” Wolford said. “And yet he went. ... We must never forget his service because a hero died that day.”