Sioux City, Iowa, US
U.S. Army
SSG
12/4/2012, Tucson , AZ
Dear Michael Reagan,
My son was born May 7th, 1976, a bi-centennial baby. While growing up, Clinton was the type of person who always saw the best in people. If someone needed help, he was right there willing to do or give whatever he could do to help. When Clint was in 6th grade, without my knowing it, he entered an essay contest that was on the radio. He had to write about his mother, for Mother’s Day. Imagine my surprise when I answered the phone to a radio announcer informing me Clint’s essay won and that I would be receiving a gift certificate to a jewelry store. He was always doing things like that.
In middle school he played saxophone in band. In school, he liked to play volleyball. While in the service, he won a volleyball tournament for which he received a medal. Clint also loved to bicycle and fish. In high school, he was in track and on the swim team. As soon as he was able, he went to work for Hy-Vee then moved on to other various jobs – chef, carpenter, and landscaping.
One winter day, somewhere around the first of January I think, he came home with a surprise of my life! Without thinking it over or discussing with us, he signed up for the Army. Thus his life as a soldier began. Clint was in basic training at Fort Riley, Missouri. He had some training at Fort Benning, Georgia and practiced tank maneuvers in the desert of Vegas, Nevada. He was in the front lines as a mine sweep going into Bagdad. In the mountains of Afghanistan, Clint’s job was in satellite communications.
Clint was stationed in Germany, went to Iraq, then back to Germany before his final station which was Fort Huachuca, Arizona. He was a sergeant there before coming down with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
All he had was a sore throat that wouldn’t go away. He went to the doctor and they didn’t even let him go home. This was about a week and a half before Thanksgiving in 2010. When they arrived at the hospital he was so swollen and stiff that the attendants had a hard time switching him from the stretcher to the bed. The doctors at that time said he had a two week window. The doctors and nurses there were very good to him. My son Wes went and gave bone marrow for him and Clint was able to go into remission. It only lasted to around Thanksgiving of 2012. My sister, her children, my sons, Michael and Wesley along with my husband and I were there around him when he passed. Even though he was unconscious he passed away with a smile on his face. That was my wonderful first born!