It just makes me so sad for a Lee County boy to perish in war. I want all our fellows to kick butt and come home safe. Captain Daniel Eggers was killed in Afghanistan and has been buried in Arlington. I'm so sorry for his family for their loss and for America that we have lost someone so upright and brave. Thank you for your sacrifice, Daniel.
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.
Capt. Daniel Eggers — Company C, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C. — had it all going for him.
The 28-year-old Cape Coral High School graduate, who conquered The Citadel and went on to join the Green Berets, had a lovely wife, two rambunctious sons and a brilliant future ahead of him.
Eggers’ dreams of advancement in the Army ended May 29 when his vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
His widow, Rebecca; the couple’s sons, William and John; and Eggers’ parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters gathered at a solemn funeral Tuesday morning with at least 70 other relatives and friends in a clearing at Arlington National Cemetery.
Also read more from those who knew him. Bill of INDC Journal is taking up a collection for his children. Please give generously.
UPDATE:
The Citadel has a memorial page and more information on donations for his children.
Members of the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry carry the casket of Capt. Daniel W. Eggers during funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, June 22, 2004. Eggers was killed May 29, in Kandahar, Afghanistan when his vehicle hit a land mine.
Family members of Army Capt. Daniel W. Eggers attend his funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday, June 22, 2004. Eggers was killed May 29, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when his vehicle hit a land mine. Standing are his wife, Rebecca, from left, son John, 6, parents Margaret, William, and son William, 3.
Army Brig. Gen. Gary Jones presents a medal to Margaret Eggers, mother of Capt. Daniel W. Eggers, during his funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Tuesday June 22, 2004. Eggers was killed May 29, in Kandahar, Afghanistan when his vehicle hit a land mine. Eggers' son John, 6, watches.
Members of the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry escort the cassion of Capt. Daniel W. Eggers to graveside services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, June 22, 2004. Eggers was killed May 29, in Kandahar, Afghanistan when his vehicle hit a land mine.
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“He loved the Army so much,” said Margaret Eggers, fighting to hold back tears. “This is very fitting.”
Six dark horses slowly pulled a black wooden caisson and its flag-draped casket down Eisenhower Drive then wheeled right on to York Drive.
A soft breeze kicked up and the sun ducked behind some clouds as an Army chaplain recited a verse from the Bible. The roar of an airplane landing at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport faded, then gave way to the sound of chirping birds.
The sun came out again, warming the air as Eggers’ family and friends said their silent goodbyes.
At 10 a.m., the seven-member firing party fired three shots into the air and a bugler standing behind tidy rows of white marble headstones blew taps.
The ceremonial unit of the U.S. Army Band — known as “Pershing’s Own” — struck up the familiar strains of “America the Beautiful” as the casket team carefully folded the American flag into a tight blue triangle.
Rebecca Eggers, an Army captain stationed at Fort Bragg, dabbed tears from her face before accepting the flag from Lt. Gen. Philip Kesinger Jr., commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
When the presentations and condolences had ended, a bagpiper from the Citadel stepped from behind a fir tree and played “Amazing Grace.”
Eggers was buried next to a small, freshly planted holly tree in a section of Arlington National Cemetery where many of the U.S. casualties from Afghanistan and Iraq have come home to rest.
Just two plots away is the grave of Sgt. 1st Class Robert Mogensen of Leesville, La., who was killed with Eggers and two other soldiers as they returned to their base near Kandahar.
“This is tough, but you deal with it,” said Col. Rich Dixon, who traveled from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to attend the funeral.
Dixon met Eggers at Fort Stewart, Ga., and immediately recognized something special in the young man.
“I made him my logistics officer as a 1st lieutenant and that tells you he was a top officer because those boots are usually filled by a captain,” Dixon said. “He was extremely competent and capable.”
Dixon and others joined the Eggers family after the funeral for a reception at Fort Myer, a military installation next to the cemetery.
Close friends occasionally chuckled while recalling Eggers’ well-known sense of humor.
Eggers was able to mimic a particular history professor at The Citadel, said Chris Price, a classmate who now lives in Annapolis, Md.
“He was always willing to make people laugh,” Price said.
On one occasion before a major history exam, Eggers, knowing the history professor was a fan of the Confederacy, wrote on the blackboard, “Gen. Sherman, Fire Marshall,” recalled Josh Blocker, a classmate now stationed at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C.
But when it came to his career, Eggers was serious and motivated, according to Capt. James Alden, also with the 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg.
Alden met Eggers when the two were at Fort Stewart, the Army’s premiere East Coast tank-training site.
As a quartermaster in charge of supplies, Alden was a notch below Eggers in the Army’s pecking order, but Alden said Eggers never acted arrogant.
“Dan had the knack of always treating everybody with respect,” Alden said. “He would treat a private the same as he would treat a colonel.”
Eventually the two men found themselves together for a month-long stint at the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.
It was there that Alden witnessed Eggers’ skill at learning foreign languages and his drive to succeed.
“Dan had a sergeant in his section who could speak French, German, Russian, Spanish and a couple of other languages,” Alden said. “He would tell this sergeant, ‘Today, when we see each other we’re only going to speak French.’ And the next day they would speak German.”
Before their stint in California was over, Eggers could converse in those languages, Alden said.
A graduate of West Point, Alden said it was Eggers who inspired him to enter the Army Special Forces training to become a Green Beret.
“He was always looking to improve himself and he made me want to be a better person,” Alden said.
Rebecca Eggers spent much of the reception standing near the entrance to the small reception room cradling her infant nephew in her arms and chatting quietly with the soldiers who were part of her husband’s life. Her two sons played nearby.
Keeping their father’s memory alive will be important, she said.
“I spend a lot of time reminding them their daddy taught them certain things so they remember,” she said.
Posted by floridacracker at June 25, 2004 01:35 PM