Gene A. Hawkins killed by improvised explosive device

Sgt. Gene A. Hawkins' family thought he was en route to Orlando from Iraq last week. Instead, they learned Friday that Hawkins, 24, had been killed.

His siblings and grandmother were told he died Thursday from head injuries after a bomb detonated near his military vehicle in Mosul.

Hawkins was assigned to the 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Combat Support Brigade (Maneuver Enhancement), in Fort Lewis, Wash. Troops from the battalion are coming home this month, with 160 of them scheduled to arrive today, officials from Fort Lewis said Sunday.

Hawkins' family said they thought he was supposed to leave for home Wednesday.

Hawkins talked with his grandmother Gwendolyn Taliver by phone last week. "He said that when they left and he got to Germany, he would call me," she said.

But Hawkins had stayed with other soldiers from his battalion. Hawkins was supposed to help new troops get acclimated to their surroundings, they said.

Hawkins joined the Army in February 2003, weeks before the Iraq war began.

"He wanted to make that his career," said Taliver, who raised Hawkins and his siblings Jamal Hawkins, Justin Francis and Christina Francis throughout his later childhood and teenage years. "He wanted to go as far as he could."

On Sunday, Hawkins' younger brother Jamal Hawkins said he wanted to join the military in honor of his brother's memory.

"I want to be able to follow in his footsteps," said Jamal Hawkins, 23. "I'm ready to make that commitment to him."

He said his brother, who wanted to work as a recruiter, had tried persuading him to enlist.

"He had liked the changes it helped him make for himself," said Ron Howard, a family friend. He moved quickly through the ranks, Howard said, and "it brought him out of his shell some."

Gene Hawkins had lived in Orlando since 1995, when his grandmother moved there to be near family members after she retired. He had previously lived in Uniondale, N.Y.

He attended Colonial High School for a time and earned a diploma through the Job Corps program, a family member said.

He attended Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, where Taliver said he had helped serve Communion.

His family said he was a man of deep Christian faith. "We all have strong faith. We know that he's in a better place and we will see him again," his grandmother said.

His battalion was deployed to Iraq in November 2005. Troops conducted thousands of route-clearance patrols, in which they found and destroyed hundreds of improvised bombs and performed construction missions.

As of Thursday, 118 Floridians -- not including Hawkins -- had been killed in Iraq, according to an Associated Press database. Since the war began, at least 2,744 Americans have been killed in Iraq.

Family members who gathered at Taliver's house Sunday afternoon described Hawkins as a quiet person who enjoyed video games and cartoons. He especially liked The Simpsons and King of the Hill.

Taliver talked to her grandson about throwing a party when he came home from Iraq. He didn't want one.

"He said, `No, I want to stay in my room and watch cartoons,'" Taliver said. "If he wasn't in his room, he was with one of his friends. He was not one to be in the street, unless he was out there playing basketball."

Taliver had been shopping when a neighbor called her cell phone and said she needed to come home.

When she saw a car with government license plates, "I said, `No, no, no, they've got the wrong house.'"

Hawkins had often called and sent short e-mails but didn't talk much about the dangers of life in Iraq. "I think mainly he just didn't want me to worry," she said.

Taliver had hoped to have her grandson at home for a holiday celebration.

Though there will be a void, she said, the family must still gather for the holidays.

"We really need to celebrate his life and honor him," she said. "I want to hang up his Christmas stocking."

From the Sun Sentinel