Army Spc. Byron J. Fouty

Died July 8, 2008 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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19, Waterford, Mich.; assigned to the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.; was captured May 12, 2007 by enemy forces in Jurf es Sakhr, Iraq, when his unit was attacked by insurgents using automatic fire and explosives. His body was recovered July 8, 2008 in Iraq. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez, Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack, Jr., Sgt. 1st Class James D. Connell, Jr., Pfc. Daniel W. Courneya, Cpl. Christopher E. Murphy and Sgt. Anthony J. Schober.

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Fallen soldier finally mourned

By Korie Wilkins and Cecil Angel

Detroit Free Press

Spc. Byron Fouty is finally coming home.

For 14 months, family, friends and even strangers gathered at vigils, praying for the safe return of Fouty, who was captured with two other soldiers after an al-Qaida ambush outside Baghdad, Iraq. Now they are mourning and remembering the tough-but-kind man who grew up in Walled Lake and Lake Orion and died serving his country.

Military officials said Friday the skeletal remains of Fouty and Sgt. Alex Jimenez of Lawrence, Mass., were in Dover, Del., where autopsies will be performed. Their remains will be turned over to their families, said Maj. Nathan Banks, Army spokesman at the Pentagon. Military personnel notified Fouty’s family Thursday that the men’s remains were found the day before.

Funeral arrangements for Fouty — who would have been 20 in April — are pending.

“We wanted them home,” said Spec. Shaun Gopaul, who served with Fouty and was Jimenez’s best friend, “but we didn’t want them home like this.”

At a memorial service Friday evening at the Orion Veterans Memorial in Lake Orion, about 60 people heard Fouty’s stepfather, Gordon Dibler, 49, read a speech.

“This a gathering of a community that loved its nation’s son and held out so much hope with us and our families during these last 14 months,” he said.

Dibler’s half brother, the Rev. Roger Carlson, prayed at the end of the short service. “Help us to be a thankful country,” he said while holding a Bible. “Help us to be a supportive country.”

After the service, Dibler spoke to the news media and exchanged hugs with well-wishers. “There’s a hole in your soul,” he said of the loss of Fouty. “It’s there forever.”

Brad Cook, 47, of Macomb Township, a veteran of the first gulf war, wore his uniform to the service and stood behind Dibler as he gave his speech. “It’s important to be here to represent what Byron did for all of us,” Cook said. “He made his sacrifice for me.”

The remains of the soldiers were found through a tip in the Iraqi village of Jurf as-Sakhr, a community on the Euphrates River about 30 miles south of Baghdad, where the military had long been looking for the men.

The body of one of the captured soldiers, Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, Calif., was found days after the May 12, 2007, attack.

“At least it came to an end, but it’s not a happy ending,” said Fouty family friend Cathy Conger of Walled Lake. “I’m just so very sad.”

Dibler said two military officials, a sergeant and a chaplain, arrived at his Oxford Township home about 4 p.m. Thursday with the news. As soon as he saw them at the door, he said, he knew what had happened.

“It was the longest walk of my life,” Dibler said of going to the couch, where he held his 16-year-old daughter, Sarah, Fouty’s sister, and sobbed. Dibler said the family doesn’t know when Fouty died.

Fouty’s father, Mick Fouty, who lives in Michigan, declined to comment Friday; his mother, Texas resident Hilary Meunier, could not be reached.

Byron Fouty attended Walled Lake Central High School and enlisted in the Army in 2006.

Maj. Robert Griggs, the operations officer for Fouty’s unit, said the 800 soldiers in the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team never stopped looking for the two men until they left Iraq in November 2007. Griggs said they urged their replacements to keep looking.

“It is hard to resolve that we had to go home, that it was OK to go home,” Griggs said.

“I haven’t had a day go by without thinking about them. Many, many people were looking for them, soldiers, Iraqis. We had very little hope they were alive, but I’m very satisfied there is closure for the family.”

On Friday, Dibler took phone calls and tried to stay busy. He said the grief is indescribable. He’s also trying to stay strong for Sarah and her 18-month-old son, Isaac, who Dibler said bears a resemblance to his Uncle Byron — they have the same eyes and the same determination.

“I know he’s still with me. He’s not here in person. I won’t get to hug him or kiss him on the neck,” Dibler said. “I won’t get to see him tease his sister.

“He can never be replaced.”