Charles Hester laid to rest

At Tahoma National Cemetery, family, friends and comrades on Saturday said their last goodbyes to Pfc. Charles Hester, 23, who was remembered as a dependable and talented son, brother, friend and soldier.

The former Bremerton resident with strong family ties to Kitsap County was killed in Baghdad on May 26 from wounds he received when his Stryker vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb.

Hester, who was in Iraq with Fort Lewis' 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), left behind a wife, a daughter, and more than the 100 people who attended his memorial and burial at the state's resting grounds for war veterans.

"The past six years have been the best years of my life," said Roxanne Slate, Charles Hester's widow and the mother of their 3-year-old daughter, Elizabeth. "He did everything possible to make his family happy. I'd do it all over again."

Hester, whose home of record was Cataldo, Idaho, was given military honors by fellow soldiers. The Tacoma Fire Department Honor Guard played bagpipes and the Patriot Guard escorted Charles Hester's coffin to the cemetery from a Lakewood funeral home.

Hester was also awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart posthumously.

Jody Flanig, Charles Hester's mother, said that her son had earned the Bronze Star when he drove his combat vehicle between the enemy and his fellow soldiers to give them cover during the incident in which he was killed.

"He was protecting his guys," Flanig said.

Charles Hester moved to Bremerton in the sixth grade and attended Mountain View Middle School, Bremerton Junior High and Bremerton High. After high school, he moved to Idaho where he met his wife.

Flanig and Charles Hester's stepfather live in Bremerton. His father and stepmother live in Poulsbo.

Hester joined the Army in May 2004 and had been assigned to Fort Lewis since September 2004.

Cpl. Tim Tate, who worked alongside Hester for three years, said he was greatly honored and privileged to have served with Hester. Tate remembered his fallen comrade as soft-spoken and likable, but also a man dedicated to duty.

"He never complained," Tate said. "He had a job to do."

Tate also said that Hester had become proficient driving the eight-wheeled, all-wheel drive combat vehicles.

"Not everybody can get up into a huge vehicle like that and be good," he said.

Older brother Danny Hester of Port Angeles said Charles wasn't interested in the politics of the Iraq war.

"He was there for his family, because it was the best way to take care of his family," Danny Hester said. "It's a shame he gave his life for this crap."

Keith Derito, Charles Hester's brother-in-law, said he was a hero.

"He definitely stepped up," Derito said. "He left us a boy, now he's a man."

Sister April Hester-Derito said the family was proud of Charles. The Hesters had watched him mature, and that they were heartbroken that they wouldn't be able to watch him continue to grow as a person.

"He really changed a lot," she said. "He was really growing up."

From the Kitsap Sun

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