EMPORIA, KS, USA U.S. Army SPC, COMPANY C, 2D BATTALION, 16TH INFANTRY, 4 BCT, FORT RILEY, KS BAGHDAD, IRAQ 09/04/2007
David Lane had a studious side. After homeschooling and earning high school certification, and had enrolled in mechanics training at Flint Hills Tech College. He loved school. But, history was his favorite subject. The Civil War was one of his favorite time periods. So it was not unusual that David Lane became a reenacting volunteer with the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry. He began reenacting in 2003 and was active for several years before he entered the Army. In fact it was at a WW-II re-enactment that David met his future bride Victoria. They were married on April 22, 2005.
According to Victoria: “David was a kind and loving guy who did everything he could for everybody he could. He worked out at the local Tyson plant third shift on the loading docks. The guys there nick named him Dynamite Dave. The things they would do to each other were always comical. He really enjoyed the people he worked with. He also started college to become a mechanic and would go from work straight to school.
He decided after Christmas that year that he wanted to join the Army. He left for basic training at Fort Benning on February 14, 2006. His family day fell on our first year anniversary. It was bitter sweet. I wrote him a letter everyday and he wrote me when he could. When he died he still had the letters I had written him up to that point in his life.
It was shortly after he came home from basic training I had become pregnant with our daughter. Issabelle was born on March 20, 2007. She was about 6 months old when he died so she doesn’t fully understand it all yet.”
The Eighth Kansas re-enactment unit carried the national colors and its battle flag during the David’s final salute ceremony. David was also honored by several hundred members of the Patriot Guards’ attendance. David’s parents were presented Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Good Conduct medals by General Robert Durbin, commanding general of the First Infantry Division at Fort Riley. David was also posthumously promoted from private to specialist. Governor Kathleen Sebelius asked that flags statewide be flown at half-staff on the day of David’s funeral.
Doctors successfully implanted a titanium hearing assist to correct a hearing problem and David was able to get into the Army in February 2006. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Division, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley. David was born April 3, 1987, in Mesa, Arizona.
David had already contacted friends to arrange get-togethers in 2008 and had purchased a piece of property with a friend serving with him at Camp Rustamiyah, Iraq, in eastern Baghdad. They planned to open a truck stop business together when they got out of the Army. Via MySpace David’s friends kept in touch with him and knew he was excited about coming home in a year. He looked forward to being back for the Fourth of July and to entering his vehicle in the fair which he missed the year he was deployed. Mudding with friends and big wheels for his pickup speak of happy times past.
Always and forever, though, Lane wanted to be a soldier. He was a “Guardian of the Republic”.