Army Sgt. William C. Eckhart

Died April 10, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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25, of Rocksprings, Texas; assigned to 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany; killed April 10 by an explosion of unknown origin while he was on an anti-mortar mission in Baqubah, Iraq.

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Texas soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

ROCKSPRINGS, Texas — When the father of a southwest Texas soldier saw a military representative at his front door, he realized the news that Army parents dread most had arrived at his home.

“Ronnie went to the door and saw the uniform, and he walked away,” his wife, Terri, said Wednesday, “like he was trying to wish him from the porch.”

The message, delivered Sunday to the Rocksprings couple, was that their son, Sgt. Cody Eckhart, 25, was killed Saturday in Iraq. Eckhart, who was stationed at Vilseck, Germany, was a cavalry scout with F Troop, 4th Cavalry, his mother said.

The soldier, who conducted reconnaissance, had survived missions in Bosnia and Kosovo. He had been in Iraq since February.

The military would only tell the Eckharts that their son died from shrapnel wounds to his legs. The wife of a comrade told Terri Eckhart that her son died in a rocket-propelled grenade attack about 30 miles north of Baghdad.

Eckhart was a poor student who struggled with what he wanted to do after high school, Terri Eckhart said. He excelled as a cross-country runner.

He loved being outside and found himself in the Army. But it was only during a trip home at Christmas that he discussed his secretive job with his family for the first time.

“He wasn’t going anyplace that was going to be a safe duty station,” his mother said. “He liked the adventure, the excitement and the whole big deal of it.”

Those who knew him found him to be a different person than the skinny loner they had been acquainted with in his teenage years, she said.

“He liked rappelling down mountains out of helicopters,” she said. “The Army gave him a confidence. Everyone who saw him after he joined the Army was totally amazed by the person he changed into,” she said.

“The Army has been so good to him,” she said. “Even in losing him this way, he was happy there.”

At least half the 1,200 people of the ranching community attended a memorial service Monday night honoring Eckhart, the San Angelo Standard-Times reported in Thursday editions.

Another vigil is being planned for later this week, and the funeral will be in Hondo, where Eckhart was born.

“The amount of support we have is overwhelming,” his sister, Staci Eckhart, said. “There has been so much support we almost feel like we don’t deserve it all. But things like this are everyone’s loss because people realize the sacrifice soldiers make on their behalf.”