Army Pvt. Charles Y. Barnett

Died November 20, 2008 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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19, of Bel Air, Md.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died on Nov. 20 of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident in Tallil, Iraq.

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Soldier ‘always had a smile on his face’

The Associated Press

One day, Charles Yi Barnett was sitting in a truck when his commanding officer walked up and asked him how he was doing.

“It seemed like he was waiting for me to ask that,” Lt. Col. Scott Kendrick recalled. “He said, ‘I’m on top of the world.”’

Barnett, 19, of Bel Air, Md., died Nov. 20 in a non-combat related incident in Tallil. He was assigned to Fort Hood.

In his free time, he sketched fantasy characters and portraits.

“He was just smarter than any of us,” said a brother, Jason. “And he always had a smile on his face.”

His mother, Ipun “Yvonne” Dashiell, didn’t want her baby boy joining the Army during war. “I said, ‘No, you’re not going anywhere. I want you to stay here so I can care for you and protectyou,”’ Dashiell said. “He told me, ‘Mom, I’m not a baby anymore.”’

He also is survived by his father, Kenneth, and stepfather, Walter “Mike” Dashiell Sr.

Barnett enlisted in the Army right out of high school to fulfill his adventurous dreams of becoming a SWAT team member.

“When he was 14, that’s all he talked about,” said Jason. “He just wanted to get his foot in the door and do something different with his life.”