Cody Ford remembered

COLUMBIA LAKES — A local family is mourning the loss of one of the latest casualties of the war in Iraq.

News of 21-year-old Philip Cody Ford’s death arrived Monday morning, a day after family members said the 2004 Brazosport High School graduate was killed in Baghdad. They had been told Ford, who was part of an airborne unit in the U.S. Army, was on patrol when the vehicle he was in ran over an explosive device Sunday.

Ford, who grew up in Jones Creek, was described as an outgoing person who loved sports and hunting.

Joining the military was something he had wanted to do since he was a young boy, his mother Marcia Self said as family and friends gathered at her Columbia Lakes home Monday evening.

Through tears, she recalled a conversation the two had when he was only about 7 years old. He asked her who would get his flag when he died in the war, she said.

“He wanted his dad to have it,” Self said. “He wanted to know if he’d get his weapon, too.”

Tanner Ford, the soldier’s twin brother, answered the door Monday morning when military personnel — dressed in uniform — arrived with the news. Through news reports, he said the family learned there were two other people injured in the vehicle.

“I thought they were coming by to ask me to join or for donations,” he said. But he knew what would come next when they asked for his mother, who was working in Lake Jackson at the time.

Ford said his brother was following in the footsteps of their father, Philip Ford, and others on that side of the family.

“He was a great kid,” Self said. “His dream has always been to be in the military. … It was his chance to make something of himself. He said he wanted to make it his career.”

When the soldier first told his mother about his decision to join the military, she said she really didn’t think he’d end up going to Iraq.

But it finally hit her when her son sent home photos of him stationed in Kuwait. She pointed out her son in a photo of a group of soldiers. He stood at the end, holding his weapon.

“He felt like he was prepared,” Self said. “We didn’t want him to go, but we had to support him. … Those are our guys over there.”

Michelle Melcher, the soldier’s sister, said it was her brother’s dream to be a soldier since he was 3.

“He was very patriotic,” Melcher said. “If he saw someone wearing an Army shirt, he’d flip and ask if they were really in the Army.”

Melcher last spoke to her brother last week, she said, and the family recently sent him a care package. She remembered him being eager to go on one mission, but he wasn’t selected. Although he wanted to go, he was scared but “he knew he had a job to do,” Melcher said.

It was only his second week in Baghdad, his brother said.

Having served in the Army for about 18 months, Philip Cody Ford was deployed to Iraq in October, said John Self, his stepfather.

“We’re proud that he served, but we’re hurting,” John Self said.

Survivors also include his wife, Margie.

From the Facts

Related Link:
Cody (Philip C.) Ford reported killed by I.E.D.