ALPAUGH, CA, USA U.S. Army SSG, COMPANY A, 1ST BATTALION, 5TH CAVALRY, 2 BCT, FORT HOOD, TX BAGHDAD, IRAQ 05/19/2007
On December 23, 1776, Thomas Paine wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”
Staff Sergeant Christopher Moore Lee was certainly no “sunshine patriot.” The day after he graduated from high school in Alpaugh, California in 1996, Christopher enlisted in the Army. He completing basic training and advanced individual training at Fort Benning in Georgia. He was first assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he earned his air assault badge. Christopher then deployed to Kuwait where he guarded Patriot missile sites. Upon his return to the United States, the Army reassigned him to Fort Benning. Following that assignment, he moved to the 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Staff Sergeant Moore left the military for a short time, but, once again feeling the call to duty, he re-enlisted. He went on his first tour of Iraq in April 2004. Staff Sergeant went back for a second tour in October 2006 as commander of a Bradley fighting vehicle. During his third tour he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
On May 19, 2007 Staff Sergeant Moore, then 28 years old, died in Baghdad of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed were Sergeant Jean P. Medlin, Specialist David W. Behrle, Specialist Joseph A. Gilmore, Private First Class Travis F. Haslip, and Private First Class Alexander R. Varela.
Staff Sergeant Moore is survived by his three daughters, Ashlyn, Kalyn, and Taylor; his ex-wife, Kindell Mills; his mother, Martha Moore; a brother, Robert; two sisters, Misty Collins and Nancy Ince; his grandparents; and numerous other relatives.
Of her ex-husband, Ms. Mills said: “Chris was my best friend. And there is not another person in this world that could come close to the type of father he was to my children.”
Staff Sergeant Moore was buried at a cemetery in Kennedale, Texas, next to his best friend, Dustin Mills. Mills was killed in a car crash in 1997.
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