Sgt Charles E. Wyckoff

SGT CHARLES E. WYCKOFF
	NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense No. 729-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 11, 2007 Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132 Public/Industry(703) 428-0711 DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sergeant Charles E. Wyckoff Jr., 28, of Chula Vista, California, died June 6, 2007, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from enemy small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. For more information related to this release the media may contact the 82nd Airborne Division public affairs office at (910) 432-0661. Chula Vista grad with passion for aviation killed in Afghanistan June 12, 2007 A former Chula Vista High School track star whose love of aviation led him to join the Army's Special Forces died Wednesday in Afghanistan. Sergeant Charles Edward Wyckoff Jr., 28, was shot by small-arms fire in the country's Helmand province, the Pentagon announced yesterday. A few days earlier, he had evacuated from a helicopter that insurgents downed with a rocket-propelled grenade. Wyckoff was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. His mother, Sylvia Wyckoff of Alameda, said her son's death is one of several blows she has suffered in the past year. She said her fiance committed suicide in front of her, an ex-boyfriend was slain in Imperial Beach and her sister died in November. Sylvia Wyckoff said she sensed that something bad would happen to her son after a conversation they had about three weeks ago. “He said, 'Mom, I'm getting scared. The war is getting worse.' As a mom, I was speechless. I started crying. He said, 'Mom, don't worry. I want you to be healthy when I get home,' ” Sylvia Wyckoff said yesterday at her daughter's home in San Ysidro. Several relatives from Chula Vista had joined them there in mourning. Wyckoff enlisted with the Army last year and left Fort Bragg in January for his first deployment. “My son was only in Afghanistan for six months and he's already gone,” Sylvia Wyckoff said. A native of Chula Vista, Wyckoff attended Harborside Elementary, Chula Vista Junior High and Chula Vista High School, where he graduated in 1996. His family was especially proud of his college education. He attended San Francisco State and then transferred to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical science. Wyckoff was the only member of his household to graduate from college, his aunt Tina Perez said. “He was a winner in our family,” she added. “He was the good one. All of our nephews were in prison. He never got into gangs, he never got into drugs.” Wyckoff's relatives said aviation was his passion. “If a plane was flying over,” Perez said, “he would be able to identify it.” After earning his college degree, Wyckoff sought to join the Army so he could eventually become a Green Beret. In case that plan didn't work out, he also applied for a job with the U.S. Border Patrol. “The day after he enlisted in the Army, the Border Patrol called him,” Perez said. Two days before Wyckoff's loved ones heard news of his death, they received a video he sent from Afghanistan. The footage featured members of his unit and showed the area where they lived. It also included a tribute to Wyckoff's wife of two years, Erika, who is living at Fort Bragg and could not be reached for comment. In his video, Wyckoff arranged desert flowers to spell out the sentence, 'I love you.' He also wrote 'Charles loves Erika' on a rock. “Two days later, he was gone,” Perez said. Wyckoff will be buried Friday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. His family also plans to hold a memorial service at 11 a.m. June 23 at Victory Outreach Church, 4235 National Ave. in San Diego. Besides his mother and aunt, survivors include Wyckoff's two stepchildren; his father, Eddie Charles Wyckoff; and his sister, Alina Perez. Yesterday afternoon, Alina Perez sat in her mobile home and reflected on her brother's death. “I was praying that he would come home,” she said. “But I also had to accept the possibility that he wouldn't.
(Photo courtesy Dick O'Donnell, click to enlarge))
Grave marker for Sgt Charles E. Wyckoff at Section 60, Site 8635 in the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington Virginia Sgt Wyckoff was killed in action in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on June 6, 2007 and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal as well as the Purple Heart. NOTE: This photo was taken four days after Easter 2008. The grave site has not only been decorated with floral arrangements but also with a plastic Easter egg.
Wyckoff Family [l-r] Erika, Alexandra, Joshua, and parents Sylvia and Eddie grieve at Sgt Wyckoff's Arlington funeral
Honor Guard removes flag from casket in preparation for ceremonial folding.
Presentation of Flag Sgt Wyckoff's wife, Erika, receives the flag from his coffin as children Alexandra and Joshua look on.
Photos courtesy of Arlington National Cemetery website http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/cewyckoffjr.htm






























	Army Sergeant Charles E. Wyckoff, 28, Chula Vista; Killed by gunfire on Afghanistan patrol By John L. Mitchell Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times June 17, 2007 One of Alina Perez's earliest memories of her younger brother is of him on a beach in Coronado, Calif., running from a shadow cast by an airplane flying overhead and screaming: "Mom, help me! Help me!" That frightened 5-year-old grew up to become a soldier parachuting into combat out of helicopters — a paradox that Perez has struggled to come to grips with since her brother's death June 6 in Afghanistan. Army Sergeant Charles E. Wyckoff, 28, of Chula Vista, California, was killed when his unit was attacked with small-arms fire while on patrol in Helmand province, southwest of Kabul. Days earlier, he was among a group of soldiers who narrowly escaped death when they evacuated a helicopter moments before it was brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade. Wyckoff, who joined the Army in June 2004, was an infantryman with the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. "He loved parachuting," his sister said. "There was something about being airborne, an adrenalin thing. He loved it. He would have his cellphone camera on while he was jumping. He was a crazy kid — nothing but courage in everything he did." In Afghanistan on his first combat deployment, Wyckoff found ways to ease the anxieties of his family back home. He tried to downplay the hardships in his letters, phone calls and videos. "His fun-loving nature was always there," his sister said, recalling one video that showed mountain ranges, some difficult living conditions and Afghan children learning to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. In the video's closing moments, he wrote a message of love to his wife, Erika, on a rock. And to his family, he spelled "I love you" with flowers. Two weeks before his death, he had an ominous message for his mother, Sylvia: "We're going to the war zone," he told her. He was scared, and his words unhinged her. "Mom, please don't make yourself sick over this," she recalled him saying. "I want you healthy when I come back home." It was a conversation she can't shake. "This has been outrageously painful," she said of the son she calls her "hero." As a teenager, Wyckoff was a medal-winning sprinter at Chula Vista High School, inspired by the rugged determination of the late long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine. After graduating in 1996, Wyckoff attended San Francisco State. He transferred to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz., graduating in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical science. He was the first in his family to earn a college degree. "We were so proud of him," his sister said of the boy who never lost his passion for planes. "My mom would take him to air shows. He was always in awe." After college, Wyckoff scrambled to pay student loans. He took a test to become a Border Patrol agent but didn't receive notification that he had passed until after he had enlisted in the Army. "It was destined for him to be a soldier," his sister said. Wyckoff was buried Friday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. A memorial service was being planned at Victory Outreach Church in San Diego. In addition to his wife, mother and sister, he is survived by his children, Alexandra and Joshua; and his father, Eddie.