Three members of 278th killed in Iraq

The soldiers were identified as Staff Sgt. Asbury F. Hawn II, 35, of Lebanon; Sgt. Shannon D. Taylor, 30, of Smithville; and Sgt. Gary L. Reese, 22, of Ashland City. All three soldiers were members of the 3rd Squadron, 278 Regimental Combat Team.

The men were killed early Sunday by hostile fire near Forward Operating Base Bernstein in northeastern Iraq. No other information on the attack was immediately available from the state military department.

A fourth soldier, who was not identified by the Guard, survived the attack and was recuperating in a military hospital, The Tennessean reported.

Seven soldiers in the unit have now been killed in Iraq, according to the Guard.

Hawn is survived by a wife and two sons, ages 4 and 12, his father, Asbury Hawn, told The Lebanon Democrat on Monday. Hawn was born in Miami, and the family moved to Rutherford County before relocating to Wilson County about nine years ago. He worked at the Nissan manufacturing plant in Smyrna.

Hawn is the second serviceman from Wilson County to be killed in Iraq. In September, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Steven Charles Tyler Cates, 22, was killed in Al Anbar Province.

His widow, Slate Hawn, said she had tried to explain what has happened to their sons.

“The 12-year-old understands and the 4-year-old was very much a daddy’s boy. I know I’ll tell him that he was a wonderful man and there will be lots and lots of pictures to show him,” she said.

In Smithville, a black ribbon was placed on the mailbox at Taylor’s home, where his mother, Donna Pedigo, sifted through old photographs of her son on Monday and recalled his early inspiration to join the military. Taylor’s grandfather served in World War II and his uncles and an aunt also served in uniform, The Tennessean reported.

Pedigo said seeing the uniformed men come to her doorstep “just about killed me. It was so hard to hear what they had to say.” The notification call came Sunday around 9 a.m. “But immediately when we saw them, we knew. We knew.”

Reese was a 2001 graduate of Cheatham County Central High School where teachers recalled that he wanted to see the world with the military paying for it. He joined the Guard about a month after graduating, his father, Gary Reese said.

“It wasn’t something that he had talked about from childhood. He came out of nowhere with it and wanted to join. I think it was a good thing for him. I think it helped him to grow and blossom into a fine young man,” Reese said.

“He was so proud of all that he was planning to do with his life,” Jean Hill, his Spanish teacher, told WKRN-TV of Nashville.

Members of all three families said that funeral services would be held in their hometowns when the soldiers’ bodies are returned to the United States.

A Clarksville soldier’s death also was confirmed Monday.

Capt. Jeremy A. Chandler, 30, died in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan while conducting training activities at Forward Operating Base Ripley. He was stationed with the 3rd Special Forces Group out of Fort Bragg, N.C.

Chandler died from non-battle injuries, and the Army said his death is being investigated.