| Staff Sgt. Daniel A. Newsome United States Army KIA 27 June 2007, Iraq |
Tributes Memorial Page Established by- Madeline Landrau Daniel Newsome In loving memory of my cousin Daniel Newsome who I will dearly miss very much. Wish we had more time together. You will always be remembered through the family and myself always and forever. Other Tributes |
| Soldier's death hits home as Chicopee mourns By Daniel J. Muse, Globe Correspondent | June 30, 2007 Daniel A. Newsome loved skateboards, fast cars, and his family, who are reeling from the news that the Army staff sergeant died while serving his second tour of duty in Iraq, his uncle said yesterday. Concord Fire Chief Kenneth Willette, who is also the godfather of the 27-year-old Chicopee native, said Newsome enjoyed serving his country and had married his high school sweetheart, Karen. They had a 1-year-old son, he said. "We feel this is a terrible, heart-wrenching event, but there are so many families that are experiencing this," Willette said in a telephone interview. "We just hope that this makes everyone realize this is really going on, that soldiers are really dying. It's asking a lot of the soldiers and their families." Newsome died in Baghdad from injuries sustained June 27 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations, according to the Pentagon. Newsome had been in Iraq since last October and was assigned to the First Battalion, Eighth Cavalry Regiment, Second Brigade Combat Team, First Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas, the Army said. His family in Western Massachusetts -- including his wife, his parents, and his stepfather -- declined to be interviewed yesterday. Willette said that Newsome's enlistment was up in February 2008 and that he was considering leaving the Army. "He was looking forward to settling down with his family and maybe buying a house," Willette said. "He was looking to go to technical school for auto mechanics." His uncle said Newsome had served as a peacekeeper in Kosovo and served a year in Iraq before his current deployment. He was stationed in Hawaii between 2004 and 2005. He was slated to return from Iraq in January 2008. "When he was a teenager, he loved skateboards and fast cars," his uncle said. "And even as an adult, he loved working on his car. He had a pretty souped-up Honda. He was always adding something to it to make it look better or go faster." Newsome was last home about a month ago, and the family made sure they celebrated his son's birthday, even though it had not yet arrived. "It was just a wonderful time," Willette said. "The memory we'll have of his son smashing birthday cake over Danny and Karen's faces is great. And it makes it harder." Newsome was a 1998 graduate of Chicopee Comprehensive High School and was the third native of Chicopee to die in Iraq or Afghanistan, said Mayor Michael Bissonnette. The others are Marine Captain John Maloney, who died in Iraq in 2005, and Army Specialist Christopher Wilson, who was killed in Afghanistan earlier this year. "We've had way too much experience with this," said Bissonnette, who pointed out that the athletic field at Chicopee High School was named in Maloney's honor this year. "Everyone is in a state of shock. A loss like this hits home." According to the Army, Newsome's decorations and awards include the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. John Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report. |
