Army Sgt. Blake C. Stephens

Died May 8, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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25, of Pocatello, Idaho; assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.; died May 8 in Salman Pak, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed was Spc. Kyle A. Little.

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Idaho soldier’s wife says her husband died a hero

The Associated Press

POCATELLO, Idaho — The wife of an eastern Idaho soldier killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb said her husband would have still gone to war even if he had known his fate.

“He still would have done it,” Erin Stephens told the Idaho State Journal. “He always said it would be better to die doing something he loved. His death was honorable. He was a hero.”

Army Sgt. Blake Stephens, 25, of Pocatello, was part of a convoy escorting an Army colonel when the device exploded May 8 in Salman Pak, a town 18 miles south of Baghdad. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, at Fort Benning, Ga.

“We were best friends. Blake was me, and I’m a girl version of him,” Erin said. “We just knew we were meant to be together. We were married for almost five years and never fought once.”

The two met at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Erin was in the Air Force serving as a security forces agent. Blake was there with the National Guard. She said they each knew right away they had found their soul mate.

She said she had a hard time accepting her husband’s decision to join the Army after his service with the National Guard expired.

She had been deployed to Iraq three times and knew the dangers, and is opposed to the war.

“He said the most perfect, primo thing would be for me to be with him in Iraq,” Erin said. “Then he could be there with both of his loves. Me and the military.”

But they only talked twice on the phone during Blake’s two months in Iraq, the second time just two days before Blake’s death.

“We talked for half an hour,” she said. “We both said how much we loved each other. He said he always dreamt about me and that he loved me, and that he’d call in a couple of days. We always gave each other a kiss over the phone before we got off, and said ‘bye’ like five times. I’ll never, ever forget that conversation.

“I’m so thankful for that last phone call.”

About 48 hours later she was told of her husband’s death while at Blake’s sister’s house in Twin Falls.

“Blake couldn’t have died in a car accident or in his sleep. That wasn’t him,” Erin said. “It always had to be something big with him — he always had to top everything. He couldn’t leave this world as something little. He had to leave with a bang.”

She said the couple planned to start a family when Blake returned.

“We’re so young, we had our whole life ahead of us,” Erin said. “We wanted a family together. Thinking about not having kids with him is what’s killing me now.”