David M. Unger killed by roadside bomb

Family members are still reeling over David Unger’s sudden death in Iraq. The 2003 Leavenworth High School graduate enlisted in the military shortly after graduation, with dreams of someday opening a mechanics shop where he could work on cars.

“I don’t know what to say,” Laura Unger, Unger’s widow, told the Leavenworth Times. “I’m not doing very good, like everyone else. I’m probably not going to be okay for the rest of my life.”

Unger, a 21-year-old U.S. Army corporal, died Tuesday near Baghdad, along with two other soldiers with Task Force Lightning, assigned to the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division of Fort Hood, Texas. Unger was deployed last year and was scheduled to return from Iraq on Dec. 14.

He was posthumously promoted from the rank of specialist.

As of press time Thursday, the U.S. Department of Defense still had not released the names of all the soldiers killed Tuesday.

“It’s a massive shock,” said Caitlin Sullivan, Unger’s cousin. “It’s hard to be anywhere without expecting him to just walk in. We still have that little ray of hope that this is a mistake — that it’s just not happening.”

Sullivan, who was only four months older than Unger, remembered Unger as a “huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan.” Because they were so close in age, the two grew up together, spending time at Unger’s Bakery, hunting for snakes and frogs and playing war in the backyard.

“He was always the hero in every situation,” Sullivan recalled. “His younger brother Jeremy would trap me and David would rescue me.”

As the oldest of five children, Unger was close to his mother, Diana Pitts. Sullivan said he called her last Thursday at 4 a.m., because he didn’t want to wake his wife and young son, Gage. Unger had been deployed throughout much of Gage’s life.

“It’s amazing how passionate he was about being a father,” Sullivan said. “He was anxious to get home.”

Sullivan plans to speak at Unger’s memorial service. Kurt Torkelson with Belden-Sexton-Sumpter Funeral Chapel said funeral services are pending until the release of Unger’s remains.

“It will be within the next 10 days,” Torkelson said. “His remains could be back in the country tomorrow, but we don’t know.”

Torkelson said when a soldier is killed overseas, the remains are taken to a local mortuary before being transported to a mortuary office in Dover, Del. The remains are again prepared for travel before transfer to a local funeral home, where the remains are dressed and prepared for the memorial service. Torkelson is working with the family to create a celebration of Unger’s life.

Sullivan said tentative funeral plans are a memorial service at Leavenworth High School, with the funeral at the Fort Leavenworth Main Post chapel, where Unger’s mother worked.

“Everyone at the chapel is just like family,” Sullivan said.

Burial will be at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery with full military honors. He is the first soldier from the Leavenworth-Lansing area to be killed in Operation Enduring Freedom.

“As his father said, we’re honoring a local community hero,” Torkelson said.

“We’re going to miss him, that’s for sure,” Sullivan said. “I can’t think of anyone who didn’t love him.”

From the Leavenworth Times