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Base NCO dies defusing roadside bomb in Iraq
Memorial services will be held on base today for USAF TSgt. Walter Moss, 37, who died March 29 in Iraq.
Moss was attempting to defuse a roadside bomb, known as an IED (Improvised Explosive Device), when it went off, killing him and wounding another airman from Mountain Home AFB, who has not yet been identified due to Air Force privacy considerations.
IEDs have become the weapon of choice among the insurgents in Iraq and have become the leading cause of combat fatalities in the last year in that country.
Moss was a member of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight of the 366th Wing's Civil Engineering Squadron. He was one of about 400 base personnel deployed overseas in support of the Global War on Terrorism.
Today's memorial service is closed to the public at the request of his grieving family, which also has requested that no family photographs or photos of Moss be published. The Mountain Home News is honoring that request.
Moss is survived by his wife, Georgina, of Mountain Home, and their two children, Andrew, 13, and Veronica, 9.
Moss is originally from Houston, Texas, where he will be buried at Houston National Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are pending. His body was returned to the United States last week, through Dover AFB, where all military casualties are initially brought home.
Of the 19 men and women from Idaho who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Moss is the fifth with ties to Elmore County. He is the first from this community, and the personnel on base, to die directly by enemy action in the current war. Of the other four, two died from non-combat related injuries, one was killed in a mercy mission helicopter crash, and one was murdered in a "fragging" incident by a fellow trooper.
Moss worked at a job that was dangerous even in peacetime and which is in high demand by military forces in Iraq.
A 16-year member of the Air Force, he was assigned to Mountain Home AFB in June 2003. In January he began serving his first deployment in Iraq from MHAFB, and was assigned to the 447th Air Expeditionary Group in Iraq at the time of his death.
His death was deeply felt both on base and in Mountain Home.
On Monday, to honor Moss, the Mountain Home Volunteer Fire Department displayed its huge Silver Wings American flag on American Legion Boulevard across the street from Carl Miller Park where a temporary memorial had been set up for Moss. Area residents placed flowers, notes and other items throughout the day at the memorial.
Col. William Schall, Jr., the 366th Operations Group commander, who spoke on behalf of the wing's leadership last week (many of the wing's senior officers were away at conferences when they learned of Moss' death), said it was "a very somber time" on base.
"The Gunfighters are one large family. Any time one member of our family is lost while serving in harm's way, that loss is equally shared by everyone stationed here," he said, asking that everyone keep the Moss family in their thoughts and prayers.
"As we pause to honor the memory of our comrade and friend, we extend our thoughts and prayers to TSgt. Moss' family during this time of sorrow," he said on behalf of the wing.
Moss's family in Mountain Home was notified last week by a standard Air Force notification team, composed of a representative from the medical group, a chaplain and his squadron commander.
Schall said the entire base "is a support network for the family," and added that, "we appreciate the support of the entire Idaho community."
While his family in Mountain Home has remained in isolation as they deal with their grief, Moss' brother in Texas, Brian, interviewed by Houston Chronicle reporter Ann Marie Kilday, said that he believed his brother died completing a mission he deemed too dangerous for anyone else in his unit to attempt.
"He was basically the leader of the ordnance and explosive devices specialists," Brian Moss said. "The job he was doing was clearing IEDs off the road so that civilians and others wouldn't get killed.
"He let us know that he was doing a very important job," his brother said. "I am sure what he was doing was a job that he didn't want anybody else to do -- that is the kind of person he was."
He said it was his older brother's nature to be protective.
"He looked after the young guys. He was like the second dad for everybody."
Away from the military, Moss also served as an explosives consultant "to several movies," his brother said.
"For a life of 37 years, he got a chance to do a little bit of everything," he said.
As part of their Air Force life, the Moss family had traveled around the world, including Guam, Italy and Turkey.
Brian Moss said his brother's relationship with his wife and children was "his whole world."
His mother, Rebecca York, repeated those sentiments. "He loved life, he loved his kids and he loved his wife," she said.
York said her son joined the Air Force "right out of high school," and married his high school sweetheart as soon as he completed boot camp.
"Walter never regretted" joining the Air Force, she said. "He felt it was his job to do.
"Of course he didn't want to leave his family, but he just never complained. He was always smiling. He had a lot of people who loved him," she said.
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The Air Force has released few details of the second airman from Mountain Home AFB who was injured in the same blast that killed Moss, but it is believed he also is from the base's EOD unit.
As of Monday that airman remained in Iraq, but his condition and the nature of his injuries were not disclosed by the Air Force.
He had not been flown to Germany, however, where the most serious casualties are usually taken prior to bringing them home to hospitals in the United States.