Army Sgt. Timothy L. Hayslett

Died November 15, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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26, of Newville, Pa.; assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, based in Friedberg, Germany; killed while on patrol Nov. 15 when his Humvee was struck by an improvised explosive device in Baghdad.

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Family remembers Cumberland County, Pa., soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

CARLISLE, Pa. — A soldier from central Pennsylvania was killed in Iraq when a grenade was thrown into a Humvee as it was driving down a side street in Baghdad, his mother said.

Sgt. Timothy L. Hayslett, 26, was a passenger in the Humvee, which came under fire on on Nov. 15 as it was patrolling the city, according to his mother, Mary Hayslett. The family learned of his death from Army officials who visited their Carlisle-area home the next evening. Two other soldiers were injured in the attack, she said.

“He’s a hero and everybody should know about him,” Mary Hayslett said.

Hayslett, a graduate of Big Spring High School, was assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment of the 1st Armored Division, based in Friedberg, Germany.

His wife, Kori, and 3-year-old daughter, Gracy, live in Ohio, while another daughter, Kaitlyn Brough, attends Newville Elementary School in Pennsylvania, according to The Sentinel newspaper in Carlisle.

Hayslett had served in the Army for eight years and went to Iraq in May. He had planned to spend his career in the military and had just re-enlisted, said his father, Guy Hayslett.

He was scheduled to return to Germany in December, then spend Jan. 15 to Feb. 15 at home before going to Alaska, his mother said.

“When I found out that he was going to Iraq, I was worried that he was afraid,” Mary Hayslett said. “Then he called from Germany and he said, ‘Mom, I’m not afraid. I’m ready to drive my tank right onto Saddam’s front steps.’

His parents said Hayslett complained about the heat, but otherwise seemed to be enjoying his job and was in good spirits

“The last time that I talked to him, I got an e-mail. He said, ‘Don’t worry about me, Mom. My guys and I take care of each other. We’re all going to come out of this alive. We’ll be all right.”’

Mary Hayslett said that in one of his last e-mails, Timothy said he wanted to see yellow ribbons on the trees in the yard.

“’You’ve got the only son on the street serving in Iraq,” she remembers him writing.

The yellow ribbons are there now, and the Big Spring School District is also honoring Hayslett by flying the flags outside its schools at half-staff and having flowers places at a veterans’ memorial at the high school.

“All of the individuals that I’ve spoken with that knew Tim well are saddened by his death,” Big Spring Superintendent William Cowden said. “Tim was serving his country and representing us. We’re proud of what he was doing. We extend our sympathy to his family.”

A 1976 Big Spring graduate, Sgt. Randall D. Shughart, died in October 1993 while helping to rescue a downed helicopter pilot in Mogadishu, Somalia. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.