Army Sgt. Michael C. Taylor

Died December 7, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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23, of Hockley, Texas; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 13th Field Artillery, 214th Field Artillery Brigade, III Corps Artillery, Fort Sill, Okla.; killed Dec. 7 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck while his unit was conducting combat operations in Balad, Iraq.

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Family receives Christmas card hours before learning of soldier’s death

Associated Press

HOCKLEY, Texas — Army Sgt. Michael C. Taylor sent Christmas cards to all of his relatives, and they arrived just hours before Army officials came to tell the family that the 23-year-old soldier had died when an improvised bomb exploded in Iraq last week.

“All I have to say is how much I love you and will be glad to see you in January,” Taylor wrote to his mother, Stephanie Taylor Tompkins, who got the card Wednesday — the same day her son died. “I wish you a very merry Christmas.”

Relatives gathered Saturday to remember Taylor, who they once called “Little Mickey,” according to the Houston Chronicle’s Sunday editions.

Taylor was described as an avid reader of mysteries and thrillers, and a devout Christian who wanted to restore a 1969 Chevelle when he got home from Iraq.

Justin Lee Taylor, 24, said he’ll restore the Chevelle as a way to remember his brother.

“I was really looking forward to working on that car with him,” he said, weeping. “But I know he’s going to love looking down from heaven and seeing that car finished.”

Taylor and his wife, Dusti, had a 3-year-old daughter, Sadie Odessa. The young girl was named after her grandmother.

“This is a very, very close family and that was very important to him,” Taylor’s stepfather, Curtis Tompkins, said. “The best part of his day over there was mail call, even though we all corresponded by e-mail.”

Taylor joined the Army in July 2001 after earning the equivalent of a high school diploma. He had attended Tomball High School but was “bored to death” in the classroom, Tompkins said.

Taylor recently was promoted to sergeant and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 13th Field Artillery, 214th Field Artillery Brigade, III Corps Artillery at Fort Sill, Okla. He was killed Wednesday in Balad, Iraq.

His mother was unable to speak about her son’s death, but she wanted people to know that her son was doing his duty by serving in Iraq, said Tompkins, her husband.

Relatives said the family was still struggling with the death of Taylor’s father, David Lee Taylor, who died in a car accident two years ago.

“Michael told me that he believed Daddy was over there (in Iraq) with him. He really believed that,” said his sister, Davina, 21.

Davina still hasn’t opened the Christmas card from her brother.

“I don’t know when I will open mine,” she said, holding the red envelope. “The time will come when it’s right for me.”