Oklahoman killed at Fort Hood was preparing for 2nd deployment
SHOOTINGOklahoman was preparing for 2nd deployment
BY BRYAN DEAN
Published: November 7, 2009
A Tipton soldier killed Thursday during a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, was a quiet boy who thought the military would help him grow into a man, his family said Friday.
U.S. soldiers fold the American flag Friday in front of the III Corp headquarters building at Fort Hood, Texas. AP Photo
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Spc.
Jason Dean Hunt, 22, was one of 13 soldiers killed when a gunman opened fire at a soldier readiness center on the post. The gunman, identified by authorities as
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, was shot several times by a civilian police officer but survived the shooting.
Hunt was a 2005 graduate of
Tipton High School. Tipton is near Altus in southwest Oklahoma.
Known as J.D., Hunt was voted "most quiet” in his senior class. His grandmother,
Kay Smith of
Frederick, said J.D. even dressed so he would blend in at school.
"He never gave his mother one minute of heartache in his whole school life,” Smith said. "He was so embarrassed if someone thought he did something wrong.”
Hunt married two months ago, Smith said. His wife, Jenna, was finishing a class in
Oklahoma City and planned to move to Fort Hood, where Hunt recently bought a home.
Leila Willingham, Hunt’s sister, said one of the family’s fondest memories was when Hunt’s mother, Gale Hunt, had to drive to the high school and give permission for her son to sit out of a cat dissection for a science class because he didn’t feel right about it.
Kathy Gray, an administrative assistant at Tipton Schools, said Hunt started attending school in Tipton in elementary school.
"He was a real quiet kid, just kind of a quiet boy and a good kid, very kind,” Gray said.
Superintendent Shane Boothe said school officials planned a moment of silence at Friday’s Tipton football game against
Thackerville and will plan other memorials.
Services had not been set Friday.
Willingham, 30, of McKinney, Texas, said her brother kept to himself but loved his family.
"On Mother’s Day last year he sent me flowers,” Willingham said through tears. "How many brothers would send their sister flowers for Mother’s Day?”
Willingham said she once tried to explain the love of a parent to Hunt, who had no children of his own. Willingham told him she would willingly die to protect her children.
"And he told me he would die for my children in a second, too, children that aren’t his,” she said. "He went on to say he would die for a complete stranger and would jump in front of a bullet for any of his soldiers.”
She said the family considers Hunt a hero and suspects he died protecting others.
Hunt joined the Army three and a half years ago and was preparing for his second deployment to
Iraq when the attack happened, Smith said. He planned to make a career of the military. True to his nature, Hunt didn’t say much about Iraq to his grandmother, she said.
"All he would ever say to me, because I don’t think he wanted to upset me, was that there were a lot of things he wanted to tell me but he didn’t want to tell me now,” Smith said.
Smith said family members worried constantly when Hunt was deployed but were unprepared for what happened Thursday.
"This is so senseless,” Smith said.
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