Brad Skelton: Remembered with love, respect and smiles

This story would be better if Brad Skelton was telling it. He was quick with a smile, able to make a good story even better and draw a laugh while doing it.

On Friday, his family and friends told the tales. They cried and they laughed. They recalled telling details.

More then 70 people crowded around the small Christ Lutheran Church cemetery in Gordonville. Across the state, nearly 100 soldiers -- Staff Sgt. Brad Skelton's military family -- filed into the auditorium of the Ike Skelton Training Site in Jefferson City, Mo., to honor the Gordonville man and another soldier.

They died a week apart, first Sgt. Matthew Straughter of St. Charles, Mo., killed by a rocket-propelled grenade on Jan. 31, 2008 -- one day before his 28th birthday. Skelton was among the soldiers who attended his memorial service on Feb. 5. The following day, he died, too, the victim of an improvised explosive device.

Both belonged to the 35th Engineer Brigade.

"It's been a tough year. I couldn't do it without friends and family," said Brad's only sister, Carmen Robinson. Her son, Brian Robinson, left for Iraq within days of Brad's funeral and is still there. She has kept busy, handing her brother's estate and designing his headstone. The stone, recently completed, has not yet been placed on her brother's grave. She was among the thousands who lost power after last week's ice storm, just as thousands were without power during the funeral last year.

As difficult as the last 12 months have been, it brought everyone together, said Bryan Skelton, a cousin.

"Everyone is closer and more open," he said.

So it was, after Friday's brief memorial atop the cemetery hill in Gordonville, that people embraced and lingered in the chilly air, talking, laughing, crying. Some hadn't seen each other since Skelton's funeral.

"I think of him every day," said Charlie Skelton, Brad's uncle, after most of the group moved to Brad's main watering hold, the Gordonville Grill. "When I see a green pickup, talk about fishing, or if we have one of our backyard barbecues, Brad comes to mind."

Brad's cousins told stories, of Brad, the gambler, who showed up to a game with a cigar box or a coffee can full of change, a habit he learned, along with playing cards, from his father. At the end of the game, the change had been replace with paper currency.

Gary Matlock told about Brad, the prankster, and a trip to his favorite Gordonville fishing spot, Mill Pond.

"Once when we were little he told me that this one certain spot was his favorite place on the pond. Then Brad went over to where the mill rocks had been and caught everything while I sat there catching nothing. I realized he set me up," said Matlock. "Brad's favorite thing to do was fish, but lots of times it didn't fit in with everything else that was going on."

In Jefferson City, the stories were simpler. The 35th Engineer Brigade has lost 10 soldiers since Sept. 11, nine of whom are Missouri natives. Losing Straughter and Skelton within a week of one another marked the lowest point for the brigade, which remained in Iraq for four more months.

Command Sgt Major Matthew Jenkins, who served with Skelton and Slaughter, recalled two important facts about Brad.

"He wasn't exactly the model soldier," he said, and many in the room smiled. "But, a little after his first deployment, he retired. He went into civilian mode. When [the Farmington-based unit] got called up, he wanted to deploy to save some married soldier. So, even though we lost Sgt. Skelton, he saved a family."

Chaplain Gary Gilmore said Skelton and Straughter were positive influences on their fellow soldiers and leaders by example -- and every soldier could look to Skelton for a laugh and Straughter for encouragement.

Both men, said Sgt. Major Chad Craft of Jackson, "were people who took on very dangerous tasks but who could smile and laugh."

They were professionals, praised by Lt. Col John Akers for being dedicated and brave.

"They went outside the wire [for patrols] with no complaints," he said. Straughter, married with four children, was killed by "a one-in-a-million" shot, Akers said, just minutes after switching positions with another soldier in their vehicle.

Gilmore, in closing the memorial, gently urged the soldiers present to continue finding ways to remember their fallen comrades and to live with the same kind of dedication and commitment.

He told the story of being teased for not carrying photos of his family in his wallet.

"But I carry 'em here," he said, tapping his chest over his heart and saying that Straughter and Skelton are members of his military family. "We've been changed for what we do and will continue to change. But family goes on. The family is strong. Family takes care of each other."

He ended by asking the troops to respond with a "woo!" -- which he said was "Army talk for 'amen.'"

The uniformed men and women responded with a single hushed "Woo!"

Some stayed behind after being dismissed to exchange handshakes and hugs before returning to duty.

Missouri Sen. Jason Crowell (R-Cape Girardeau), who attended the Gordonville memorial, said he hopes Skelton's story will be told for a long time. Crowell sponsored the Heroes Way Bill, which would allow highway intersections to be named for soldiers killed in combat since Sept. 11. Ross Gartman, who served with Skelton in Iraq and organized Friday's Gordonville memorial, wants to make sure the signs are privately funded and is planning an event to raise money for the signs, which will cost an estimated $2,000 each.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

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