Bradley N. Shilling dies of injuries from I.E.D.

STANWOOD -- Part of Kim Donahue blames herself.

But part of her knows her son would have followed his dream, even without her permission.

The Reed City woman is grieving for her son, 22-year-old Brad Shilling, after military officials told her he was killed Saturday in an explosion in Iraq.
Shilling, a specialist with the Big Rapids-based 125th Infantry Regiment of the Army National Guard, joined the service between his junior and senior years at Reed City High School. He needed his mom's blessing to attend basic training before turning 18.

"I let him, and it was stupid," Donahue said Monday. "But he felt it was his calling, part of what he wanted to do in life.

"How do you stop your son from that?"

Shilling left Big Rapids on May 31 for Fort Dix, N.J., then departed for Iraq in July, his mother said. Donahue was awaiting more details of his death and information on when his body will be shipped home to Stanwood. The Department of Defense had not yet confirmed the death.

Stanwood, with a population of about 200, now has lost two sons to the war in Iraq. Sgt. Matthew Webber died in April after suffering wounds in a Nov. 21, 2005, roadside bomb attack. Sgt. Spencer Akers, of Traverse City, also was killed by the blast.

Shilling, his mother said, should not have been in Iraq last weekend. He was supposed to be on leave and at home with his wife, Dorothy "D.J." Shilling, and their 3-year-old daughter, AbbieRose, and 3-month-old son, Jordon, this week.

He gave up his break in battle for a friend, Donahue said.

"He always put others first, let that other guy go to see his wife before coming to see his," she said. "Just like when he was a kid and bringing kids home for dinner or bringing them to our house to bring them to church.

"He never really thought of himself."

"I'm still adjusting," Shilling's wife said. "I just always expected him to come back."

She said her husband was always helping others.

"If you needed him, he'd be there," D.J. Shilling said. "I'm sure the guys over there right now would probably say the same thing."

Donahue said her son graduated from Reed City High School in 2003 and was managing a Big Rapids-area gas station before his unit's activation.

In the six months he was gone, Donahue said, his spirit never wavered. Internet instant messaging and a Web cam gave her glimpses into how Shilling was holding up while providing security for supply routes and training Iraqi forces.

"He was there to accomplish a mission and that was to help people," she said. "He was his same happy-go-lucky person there just like he was here."

Shilling is also survived by his father, Brian Shilling, and two sisters, Melissa Shilling, 20, and Samantha Shilling, 16.

As family members mourned their loss over the weekend, Shilling's mom did her best to recall some of the lighter moments of the boy she raised. He was always injury-prone, once suffering a concussion at age 6 while trying to teach a cousin how to golf. Young Shilling did not know how to play the game.

"(The cousin) hit him in the head with the club," Donahue said. "I guess he wasn't that good of an instructor."

From the Grand Rapids Press