Victor M. Langarica killed in helicopter crash

Victor Langarica was gung ho about the war effort after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said family members.

"He wanted to do something to support his country," said his uncle, Rudy Lucas.

But after serving nine months in Afghanistan and a month in Iraq, Langarica returned to his Decatur home with a changed attitude, said his mother, Pearl Lucas. He was quiet, she said, and haunted by memories of maimed children.

As the war effort turned more toward Iraq, he turned more against the war effort. And when he was called to return to Iraq last summer, he did not want to go. He feared he'd die, for no good reason, his mother said.

On Saturday, Langarica, an Army mechanic, was among 12 soldiers killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Baghdad. Officials say the crash is under investigation. Saturday was a particularly deadly day in the war, as eight other American deaths were reported in separate attacks.

The deaths marked a sharp spike in casualties as the first troops in a buildup ordered by President Bush began to arrive. More than 90 Georgian soldiers have died in the war, according to The Associated Press.

This week, Pearl Lucas' Decatur home has become a sad greeting place for neighbors, friends and family coming to pay their respects to the 29-year-old who volunteered with his church to paint people's homes.

"The nightmare that I was running away from ... came true," said Pearl Lucas, who is 52.

His mother is more than grieving — she is bitter. She has lost faith in this war and sees her son's death as senseless. Pearl Lucas recalled that after her son was recalled to Iraq last August, he returned for a short leave in November. She held Thanksgiving dinner a week early, but the family could not bring much gladness out of him.

"He told me, 'Mom, I don't think I'm going to make it back. Things are so bad, worse than they show on the news,' " his mother recalled.

She said she told him, "I am going to be a very angry mother if you don't make it back."

She reminded him he had two young children to raise. But in her heart, she said, she believed him.

Soon after, Victor visited his uncle in Virginia. Rudy Lucas, whom Victor called "Dad," recalled that the young man was unhappy about returning to Iraq.

"The war did not make any sense to him," Rudy Lucas said. He said the two took a lot of pictures "because he was almost sure that he wouldn't make it back."

Pearl Lucas said she was shocked when her only son told her six years ago that he was enlisting in the Army. "It was a blow for me," she recalled. Her son had always been a good student, enjoying people and sports and helping others. He wanted to become a doctor, but the schooling proved too much for him, giving him an ulcer and forcing him to leave that dream behind.

In May 2001 he joined the Army. Then came 9/11 and the rest, as his mother says, is history.

She said she spoke to him Friday, for the last time. His 6-year-old daughter, Devina, picked up the phone and told her father she wanted him home soon.

"He was weeping like crazy," his mother said.

Like a lot of parents who have lost children in Iraq, Pearl Lucas is angry at Bush.

"He is the one who killed my son," she said of the president. "There is nothing he can tell me to make me feel better."

Now she wants answers: What exactly happened to that helicopter? What was the mission? She wants a full report. She said her son's body will be back in Georgia this weekend, and military officials have advised her not to have an open casket. But she said she will look anyway.

Pearl Lucas worries about her son's two children. He was divorced twice, and has a 2-year-old son. She said his second wife is in the Army and she doesn't want her going to Iraq.

Pearl Lucas also worries about herself. She has a history of heart problems and high blood pressure. These past few days have sickened her. She's not eating.

"I don't know when I'll rebound," she said.

From the Constitution