Tony Knier killed by I.E.D.

WELLSBORO -- The body of Tony Knier, an Army sergeant killed on Saturday in Iraq, was returned to the U.S. on Tuesday. But funeral arrangements are a few days away.

"Tony's body is in Dover, Delaware," said his mother, Betty Tidwell of Springfield, Tenn. "The people from the Army told me that. Now an autopsy will be done on him ... and then they will send the body to Pennsylvania for services ..."

Sgt. 1st Class Knier, 31, an Army Ranger, was killed Saturday north of Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near the Humvee he was riding in. Knier, a 1994 graduate of Cowanesque Valley High School, is survived by wife Bobbi Kline Knier, a 1994 Wellsboro High School graduate, and their three children: Marcus, 8; Dakoda, 6 and Kayli, 2.

On Tuesday, a clearer picture of the circumstances surrounding Knier's death emerged, after Tidwell talked to Army counselors.

"My counselor told me that the vehicle was a Humvee, and it had five people in it: two in front, two in back and the gunner," Tidwell said. "Tony was the front passenger. I can tell you that he was killed by a hand-activated ... remotely detonated bomb.

"I guess (insurgents) waited for the convoy wherever this bomb was, and hand-detonated it," she said. "All but Tony got thrown from the vehicle. All of them but one were knocked unconscious, and he tried to get to Tony but he couldn't, I guess, because of his injuries.

"They told me that Tony died of massive head injuries," Tidwell said.

Tidwell was nearly overwhelmed when she got the news that her son, commanding the convoy of Army vehicles, had been killed in action. But she wasn't exactly surprised.

"When he told me he was going to Iraq, I had very bad vibes," she said. "Everybody said, 'Oh, Tony -- he'll be OK. He knows his job.' But I wasn't convinced he'd be OK.

"I don't know if it was mother's intuition or what, but I just didn't want to let him go. I was having real bad feelings. Something told me he wasn't going to come back."

Although no funeral arrangements have been made, Knier's remains will be returned to Wellsboro for a funeral, Tidwell and Joey Denniston of Butler, Pa., Bobbi Knier's twin sister, said on Tuesday.

She said Bobbi Knier and the children "are very strong and are doing pretty well."

"I don't think it has hit them yet," she said.

From the Star Gazette