Edward W. Shaffer dies from November burn injuries

The parents and relatives of a Mont Alto soldier who died this week from injuries sustained during combat in Iraq last month expect to return home this weekend to finish planning the soldier's funeral arrangements.

Sgt. Edward W. Shaffer, 24, died Wednesday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, six weeks after being severely burned by an explosion.

The soldier's father, Edward C. Shaffer, said he and his wife, Brenda, son, Timothy, and Sgt. Shaffer's uncle, Rodney Shaffer, aunt, Jody, and girlfriend, Justina Martinez, remained in San Antonio Thursday and are trying to schedule a flight to return to Mont Alto this weekend.

The family was visiting Sgt. Shaffer during the Christmas holiday.

Doctors at the medical center did an autopsy on Sgt. Shaffer's body Thursday evening, Edward C. Shaffer said.

He said the family will finalize Sgt. Shaffer's funeral arrangements once they return home. A date for the funeral has not yet been determined.

"We thought we might be getting back home tomorrow (Friday), but we might not. We might come home on Saturday," Edward C. Shaffer said via telephone.

Edward C. Shaffer said Sgt. Shaffer's funeral will be in Waynesboro. He said the soldier will be buried in Parklawns Memorial Gardens & Mausoleum, north of Chambersburg.

Sgt. Shaffer had been in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Brooke since arriving there soon after being injured on Nov. 13, when a roadside bomb exploded near his

Bradley tank during operations in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, about 70 miles west of Baghdad.
Sgt. Shaffer had undergone at least five surgeries, during which both hands and a foot were amputated. He also had skin graft surgery.

He had been serving in Iraq for the last eight months.

Sgt. Shaffer was a member of the 1st Armored Division's 136th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Platoon, B Company. The Army conducted a ceremony in Germany -- where Sgt. Shaffer had first been hospitalized -- and presented him with a Purple Heart before flying him to Texas for treatment.

Back home in Chambersburg, family and friends are mourning the loss of the beloved soldier, including his aunt, Tammi Shaffer, who is Brenda's sister.

"It's been really hard on us. He'll be greatly missed. Everybody liked him," she said. "He was always quiet. It was just his nature."

Tammi Shaffer struggled to fight back tears Thursday afternoon as she recalled her fondest memories of Sgt. Shaffer, whom Tammi and other relatives affectionately called "Buzz."

"We always called him 'Buzz.' That was our nickname for him on our side of the family," Tammi Shaffer said.

Tammi also recalled her nephew's love for pickles.

"I remember he just loved to eat dill pcickles. He would always do this thing where he'd eat the whole inside of the pickle and leave nothing but the outer shell," she said. "His mom would always buy him a jar of pickles 'cause he loved them so much."

Tammi Shaffer said she got a chance to visit with Sgt. Shaffer when he returned home on leave from military duty last July.

"That was the happiest I've ever seen him. His girlfriend (Justina) was here with him and he just seemed so happy," she said. "I remember last Christmas he seemed a little nervous because he was heading back (to the military)."

Tammi's brother, Rodney, and his wife, Jody, traveled to San Antonio on Christmas Eve to visit Sgt. Shaffer. Tammi Shaffer said Rodney frequently called her and their mother, June, to give them updates on the soldier's condition.

"He (Sgt. Shaffer) was such a fine young man. I'm telling you, he really was," said June Shaffer, Sgt. Shaffer's grandmother. "He was kind of quiet. He never had too much to say."

June Shaffer said she and her grandson rarely discussed his experiences in the armed forces.

"That seemed to be something he mostly talked with his dad about," June Shaffer said.

Edward C. Shaffer said his son had no intentions of pursuing a prolonged military career.

"He wanted to get out. He wanted to settle down, get married and raise a family," Edward C. Shaffer said.

Shortly after Sgt. Shaffer graduated from Waynesboro Area Senior High School in 2002, he enrolled in Thompson Institute in Chambersburg to study computers. He enlisted in the Army in 2003.

"I'm pretty sure he wanted to do something in computers, probably," said Sgt. Shaffer's brother, Timothy. "I know the last time he was home, he didn't really want to go back (to the Army)."

Though Sgt. Shaffer's family and friends considered him to be quiet and shy, Timothy Shaffer said his brother was very social.

"He always wanted to do stuff. When he came home, he wanted to go a lot of places," Timothy Shaffer said.

"He gave 110 percent at everything he did. He was quite the character sometimes. He had his share of mishaps," Edward C. Shaffer said of his son. "And he loved collecting baseball cards."

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