Allen D Kokeshjr

Specialist Allen D. Kokesh Jr., 21, of Yankton, S.D., on Feb. 7 at Brooke Army Medical Center in
San Antonio of injuries sustained in Baghdad on Dec. 4 when an explosive device detonated near his
vehicle. First Battalion, 147th Field Artillery, Yankton, S.D.
YANKTON, S.D. --
The following is an article wrote about Allen's time in the hospital.
On the first March day the temperature has risen above 50 degrees, Allen Kokesh sits at the
kitchen table with his wife, Kristi Kokesh. They're speaking about their experiences at a hospital
in San Antonio where Allen Kokesh Jr. fought for his life from early December 2005 to February
2006.

Laying out assorted memories, Kristi tells her husband to talk about the time he shaved his beard
and made Allen Jr. laugh.

"Hold on, let me go get my journal," Allen says.

In the time he's gone, Kristi explains she went to San Antonio three times. Allen was at Brooke Army
Medical Center nearly every day, leaving her to handle most of the home duties.

Allen returns and opens up a soft black book, a planner he bought when he figured it would be useful
to chronicle the rehabilitation of his son, a 2003 Yankton High School graduate who served in
Charlie Battery of the South Dakota National Guard's 147th Field Artillery Unit.

Allen starts with Dec. 13, 2005: "He opened his eyes and tried to sit up. I wrote in parenthesis, I
think he was trying to see if it was me."

In the five years since the war began, 13 Siouxland soldiers have died from war injuries suffered in
Iraq.

Of those 13, Allen Kokesh Jr. is the sole soldier to perish stateside.

Allen Jr. was injured when roadside bombs exploded near the Humvee he was driving on Dec. 4, 2005.
The explosion immediately killed two in Charlie Battery, Sgt. 1st Class Richard Schild, 40, of Tabor
and Staff Sgt. Dan Cuka, 27, of Yankton.

First, Allen Jr. went to a hospital in Germany, within 100 miles of where he was born when his
father was serving in the Army. Then, he was jetted to San Antonio -- 1,000 miles from Yankton.

Allen says, "When we first went down, you obviously didn't know what to expect." Arriving on Dec.
11, he saw Allen Jr. had suffered extensive wounds -- inhalation burns, a severe left elbow injury
and second-degree burns on his face and left arm among them.

"He was pretty much out of it" due to heavy sedation, his father recalls. When the strapping former
soccer and football player spoke, it wasn't much more than a whisper.

Allen picks another passage, reading, "I put my hand in his, so he could feel." He adds that he used
to read the journal frequently but does less so lately.

Later in December, Allen reads aloud, Allen Jr. scooted over in his bed to be closer to his father.

Then he moves to Christmas Eve day, when Allen Jr. "was really alert," due to less sedation. Allen
Jr. asked his father about the extent of his injuries. The nurses had told Allen to be truthful.

"Let's just say, I left the leg amputation for last," he remembers.

The San Antonio conversations would periodically center on Jenny Lucht, Allen Jr.'s on-again,
off-again girlfriend of several years. Some thought the couple would end up together, but Allen Jr.
broke up with Jenny before he reported to Fort Dix in New Jersey for training.

"I think he wanted to protect her," Allen says. "He knew something was going to happen to him,
before he left. He basically said as much."

Before Allen Jr. left for Iraq, Allen later found out from friends, he spoke of wanting to come back
to Yankton because "he wanted to say goodbye."

He was able to do that, and having turned 21, spent about four hours bar hopping with his father in
downtown Yankton.

Once in Iraq, Allen Jr. saw it wasn't as bad as he'd anticipated. So he asked his father if he would
set up a flight to Mexico for him and Jenny. He wrote that he wanted to go there "to ask Jenny a
question -- hint, hint." It never came to that, but Jenny did get away from Mount Marty College in
Yankton to see Allen Jr. in the hospital.

On Jan. 1, 2006, while Jenny was still at the hospital, there was a surprise visitor. President
George W. Bush made the rounds from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., meeting recovering soldiers.

Allen relates telling his son, "That's your commander-in-chief, so you need to salute him." Allen
Jr. tried a few salutes, most of which were shaky.

"When the president came to the doorway, he actually did a pretty good salute," Allen says. Bush
approached and gave Allen Jr. a presidential coin, told him he was proud of his service.

"(Bush) didn't realize Allen had lost his leg," his father says. When the president realized that,
he told him, "'Don't give up.' ... He just told Allen to hang in there and get better, and Allen
said, 'I will.'"

He saluted Bush a second time as he exited the room. A bit later, Bush returned down the hallway. He
shook Allen's hand.

"He said, 'You've got a good man there.' "

Kristi gets up, apologizes for having to leave for a medical appointment. Allen keeps poring over
the journal.

Allen explains that Allen Jr. was in the Intensive Care Unit the whole stay. The lengthy ICU
hospitalization meant he made connections with nurses and doctors.

One elderly staffer told his father how Allen Jr. persisted in trying to have her bring him juice,
during a time he wasn't even supposed to drink water. The nurse resisted, time and again.

"But he tried to pull that with everybody," Allen says, looking straight ahead with a bit of a
smile. He even tried it with his father.

But Allen Jr. had "his depressive moods," his father explains. Frequently, Allen says, "I was trying
to pep him up," and would speak of how he could "look forward to marrying Jenny."

"He said, 'That's not going to happen.' "

Yet all along, Allen figured his son would heal and get out of the hospital. His journal entries
became less frequent.

On Feb. 2, Allen had some home and business matters to address, so he finally left San Antonio. On
Feb. 3, Allen Jr. went to a hospital gym for the third time in his stay, not for exercise, just for
a change of scenery. Allen Jr. told a doctor he wanted to get rid of his tracheotomy collar and
feeding tube, which were ever-present once he was well enough to be off a ventilator.

"Next day, his lungs gave out," Allen explains. "His inhalation burns were worse than anybody
thought."

Still back in Yankton, Allen fielded a call from Brooke Army Medical Center.

"The doctor told me my son was having a heart attack, and he had to go," he relates.

Allen Jr. couldn't breathe. "They couldn't get his lungs inflated," Allen describes. He was
stabilized for a bit, then a lack of oxygen to the brain ended his life at age 21 on Feb. 7, 2006.

"Honestly, I wish I'd never come back here. To this day, I don't know if me not being there affected
him psychologically," Allen says softly. "To this day, I think he gave me a weird look when I left.
More than sad, and a little different than being dejected."

Father and son frequently knocked heads in earlier years. They did a bit of it in late January, when
Allen felt his son could be working harder on his rehab and called him on it.

Perturbed and frustrated, Allen asked his son if he would prefer it if he went back home.

"He could only whisper-talk, but he said, 'No, Dad, I love you,' " Allen says.

Sharing the story, Allen says, helps him realize something.

"... That it is the love that matters," Allen says. "The whole ordeal of being down there, (Allen
Jr.) showed me a strength I didn't know he had. As a parent, you always hope you can instill the
right thing in your kids. ... He really showed me what true personal courage is."

Concluding, he says, "Overall, Allen had deeper convictions and emotions than I knew he had. Even
though he had this tough exterior, he was a caring person. He was the type of son a father could be
proud of."