Cavalry regiment honors fallen trooper

By Spc. Chris McCann
2nd BCT PAO, 10th Mtn. Div.

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – “It seems unfair for a man who had not served even a year in the Army to be taken from us, but it’s young men who die in war,” said Capt. Danny Wilson, chaplain, 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.
His words hung over the crowd assembled to mourn the death of Pfc. Thomas Hewett Oct. 21 at Camp Striker.
Hewett, who served with Troop B, 1st Sqdn., 89th Cav. Regt., died Oct. 13 of wounds suffered in an improvised-explosive device attack Sept. 21.
“Thomas had a family back home. … He loved his family more than anything, more than his own life,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Bobulis, Troop B, from Brockton, Mass. “He wouldn’t want us to cry, be sad or feel sorry for him.”
Hewett enlisted in the Army in 2005 and was assigned to Troop B in January. The Soldiers of his troop remember his sense of humor.
“He was always quick with a smart remark or a smirk,” said Pfc. Jonathan Williams, a native of Mount Pleasant, Texas, who met Hewett while inprocessing at Fort Drum.
He recalled a time when Hewett, sleepy, went into the laundry room instead of his barracks room and crawled up onto his “bunk dryer.”
“He looked so peaceful there, none of us bothered to wake him,” Williams said.
Hewett was also described as an excellent Soldier.
“Thomas was a great (Soldier),” said Sgt. Bryan Dunaway, a Troop B section sergeant. “He never complained, and he went out of his way to make things better. That’s all you can ask of a Soldier.”
Hewett’s only difficulty was with running, his troop mates said.
“We carried him more than he ran,” Williams joked. “But he’s running like the wind now, by God. … I want to say thanks to Hewett for being a small part of my life and a large part of my heart.”
“He will be remembered as a good father to his son, a good husband to his wife and a good Soldier,” added Wilson.
The legendary resting place of cavalry troopers was mentioned only once at the memorial.
“Do me one last favor,” asked Bobulis, overwhelmed by his emotions. “Mark the way to Fiddler’s Green.”

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