Army Pfc. Thomas D. Caughman

Died June 9, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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20, of Lexington, S.C.; assigned to Company C, 391st Engineer Battalion, Army Reserve, Spartanburg, S.C.; killed June 9 when his up-armored Humvee was struck by rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire in Baghdad.

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South Carolina soldier killed in Iraq

By Jeffrey Collins

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A 20-year-old Lexington man has become at least the 17th South Carolina soldier killed in the war in Iraq.

Spc. Thomas Caughman’s family said the Lexington High School graduate knew the risks when he joined the Army Reserves last fall.

But he thought it was more important to defend America, his great-uncle Raymond Caughman said.

Thomas Caughman died Wednesday when the armored vehicle in which he was riding was hit with an explosive device near Baghdad, Raymond Caughman said.

“He just had a desire to join. He went to Midlands Tech for a year and then decided to join,” his great-aunt Elizabeth Caughman said Thursday. “He was a good boy.”

Thomas Caughman helped escort officers around the city, Raymond Caughman said. The family did not know if anyone else was injured or killed in the incident.

Thomas Caughman was a member of the Army Reserve’s 458th Engineering Battalion and was shipped overseas in February, according to his family.

Raymond Caughman says his nephew loved to hunt and fish and volunteered at Red Bank Baptist Church, where his grandfather was once pastor.

The military told Thomas Caughman’s parents about his death Thursday.

“The officers and the chaplain were at their house at 6 o’clock this morning,” Elizabeth Caughman said.

Word of Caughman’s death spread quickly. A number of relatives live close to each other in homes east of Lexington.

Being that close-knit makes his death hit even harder. “We’d see him every day,” Raymond Caughman said.

Thomas Caughman leaves behind his parents and his sister, a rising senior at Lexington High School.

He also leaves behind a great-aunt and uncle proud of his sacrifice.

“He actually just wanted to serve his country,” Elizabeth Caughman said.

“Yep, he wanted to serve his country,” Raymond Caughman added.

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S.C. soldier killed in Iraq mourned by family, friends

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Lexington family treasures a photo of their 20-year-old son, Thomas, dressed in his Army uniform and grinning with a fat cigar between his teeth.

“He sent that picture to tease me because I was always asking him if he was brushing his teeth,” his mother, Jane Caughman, said Tuesday. “It’s obvious from how white they are that he was brushing.”

The family now holds on to such memories of Army Reserve Spc. Caughman, who died June 9 when his armored vehicle was ambushed near Baghdad.

Hampton and Jane Caughman, joined by their 17-year-old daughter, Lisa, gathered with family members who remembered him as a joyful, jubilant person.

“He made me laugh all the time” said Lindsey Hendrix, the soldier’s girlfriend. “He made everyone around him feel good.”

At least 17 soldiers from South Carolina have died in the Iraq war.

A 2002 Lexington High School graduate, Caughman joined the Army Reserve in April 2003 and left for boot camp at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., on May 28. He was assigned to the 391st Engineer Battalion, headquartered at Spartanburg, but transferred to the 458th Engineer Battalion when the Pennsylvania unit was called up for active duty in November.

The young soldier seemed to enjoy Army life and was popular in his unit, the Caughmans said. His officers encouraged him to make the Army a career, they said.

The family sent him candy, which he distributed to Iraqi children, they said.

Caughman said Thomas called him on June 9 and wanted to know if his pickup had been repaired and if a 10-pound bass he caught was back from the taxidermist. Thomas said he was heading out on patrol that evening, his father said.

It was the last time they spoke. Less than 24 hours later, two uniformed officers were at the Caughmans’ door to tell them Thomas had died.

Jane Caughman said she hopes her son had a chance to defend himself and his buddies. “I’d rather know he was fighting back, that he was giving it his best.”

A service for the young soldier will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at the Red Bank Baptist Church in Lexington.

“We know that Thomas is in a better place and we know we will see him again,” his father said. “That’s what is getting us through this.”

— Associated Press

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Family bids farewell to fallen soldier

LEXINGTON, S.C. — When he wrote home, Spc. Thomas Caughman would close his letters with these words: “Freedom isn’t free.”

On Friday, family and friends honored the 20-year-old Lexington County soldier who paid the ultimate price.

About 1,000 crowded into the pews and lined the walls of Red Bank Baptist Church, and another 200 to 300 waited outside in the sweltering heat, as Caughman was remembered as a joyful and religious young man who made others around him feel special and loved.

A large crowd was expected. Caughman was a member of one of Lexington County’s best-known families, with ties to banking, retailing and the religious community.

Nearly an hour before the service, traffic was backed up a quarter of a mile on S.C. 6, which runs past the church in the heart of the Red Bank community. After the church parking lot filled up, some mourners had to park across the street in the lot of St. James Lutheran Church.

The turnout would have delighted Caughman, said the soldier’s uncle, Glenn Day, who offered personal remarks during the service.

“If he could say something to me right now and come up and do that little backhand on your chest ... he’d say, ‘Look at that crowd I got for you,’ “ Day said to laughter.

Caughman, a 2002 graduate of Lexington High School, died June 9 while patrolling a Baghdad neighborhood for bombs used to attack U.S. troops.

The Army said Caughman’s armored vehicle was struck by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. Two other soldiers in his vehicle also were wounded seriously.

Caughman was assigned to Army Reserve Company C of the 291st Engineer Battalion, based in Spartanburg. He transferred to a Pennsylvania combat engineer unit when it was called up for active duty.

Caughman is the first fatality of the Iraqi war from Lexington County and the 21st member of the armed services with ties to South Carolina to die in the conflict.

Friday’s service was a mix of sweet sentiment — about a son, brother, nephew, cousin and soldier — and a dose of unabashed patriotism.

Just after the service started, the Rev. Robert “Butch” Powell asked mourners to salute some 60 members of U.S. military who attended the funeral, including four dozen members of Caughman’s Reserve unit.

Led by the fallen soldier’s parents, Hampton and Jane Caughman, mourners stood and offered a thunderous ovation that lasted for 40 seconds.

Later, pictures of Caughman flashed on a screen at the front of the church while country singer Toby Keith’s recording of “American Soldier” was played over the public address system.

The pictures covered Caughman’s life from toddler to soldier. There were shots of Caughman as a child at birthday parties, pedaling his red tractor, riding horseback, playing youth league baseball and fishing at the family pond.

There also were pictures of Caughman at his high school graduation flanked by his parents, shots of him and his buddies posing with a buck they had bagged, and images of him in his Army desert togs at the wheel of a Humvee.

Caughman’s parents said he loved children and especially relished the time he could spend with his cousins at family outings. One of those cousins, 6-year-old Hannah Frye, honored Caughman by standing before the packed church and flawlessly singing Lee Greenwood’s patriotic hit, “God Bless the USA.”

During the service, Day often referred to his nephew’s ever-present smile.

“Every time I close my eyes, I see that smile and that smile tells you a lot about a man’s spirit,” Day said. “I take great pride in being Thomas Caughman’s uncle.”

Powell recalled one of his last conversations with Caughman, before the soldier headed for Iraq. Caughman believed it was his responsibility to fight for the freedom that his family, friends and fellow Americans enjoy, Powell said.

“He told me, ‘I’m not married, I don’t have any kids. I’m going for those who can’t. I’m going because it’s right,’ ” Powell said.

Referring to Caughman’s writing “freedom isn’t free” in his letters, Powell said, “there is a cost to be paid for freedom and he willingly paid that cost. “Thomas Caughman was a hero, and so are the others who are still over there. Don’t forget them in your prayers.”

After the service, mourners filed outside to the church cemetery, where Caughman was laid to rest in a family plot near his grandfather, Raymond B. Day, the church’s pastor for 36 years.

Caughman received full military honors and was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service and the Purple Heart.

Brig. Gen. Thomas Bryson, deputy commander of the 81st Regional Readiness Command, presented the U.S. flag that draped Caughman’s casket to the soldier’s parents.

And then, after a final prayer, Hampton and Jane Caughman rose from their seats, stepped to their son’s casket and gently patted and rubbed it.

Caughman’s 17-year-old sister, Lisa, and his girlfriend, Lindsey Hendrix, followed. Each laid a rose on top of the casket and gave it a soft kiss.

— Associated Press