The only way the mutilated bodies of 2 U.S. Soldiers
could be identified was thru DNA testing.
Pfc. Thomas Tucker thrived on adrenaline, whether he was working construction in Oregon or
manning checkpoints in Iraq. His fellow soldier, Pfc. Kristian Menchaca was a quiet Texan,
proud to serve in the military, who wanted to work for the U.S. Border Patrol. As
confirmation spread that their bodies had been found in Iraq, both tortured in
what an Iraqi official called a "barbaric way," their families were
swept through a mix of grief, outrage, and for some, a measure of acceptance.
"Our son, as far as we're concerned, he has died for the freedom of everybody in the
United States," Tucker's father, Wes Tucker, said in an interview on TV. He talked
with pride about his son's enthusiasm and devotion to his work, but while he was grieving,
he said he also understood that his son was a soldier in a war.
Menchaca's uncle Mario Vasquez, was upset that the family had to learn so many gruesome
details of his nephew's death through the media. At a home in Brownsville, Texas,
Menchaca's close-knit Mexican-American family gathered around his mother and remembered
the 23-year-old soldier as a sweet, quiet young man. "He talked about how happy he
was that he was serving his country," said Sylvia Grice, 37, Menchaca's cousin.
"Everyone he met liked him. He had that kind of personality," Grice said.
"He liked to help people. He was just the kind of person you enjoyed being
with."
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the remains believed to be those
of Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., were spotted late Monday and
recovered Tuesday not far from where the men disappeared Friday. He said the recovery was
delicate because the area had been rigged with hidden explosives.
The bodies were flown from Kuwait to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and identified
through autopsies and DNA testing.
MADRAS, Ore. (AP) - http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060621/D8ICKCOO0.html
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