Daryl A. Davis
The Department of Defense
announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Daryl A. Davis, 20, of Orlando, Fla., died Nov. 29 in Iraq when his
HMWWV was involved in a traffic accident. Davis was assigned to the
Army National Guard's 144th Transportation Company, Marianna, Fla.
REST IN PEEACE
Specialist Davis enlisted in the 2168th Transportation Company, Iowa Army National Guard, Sheldon, Iowa in October 2001 and was a military cargo truck driver. He moved to Florida in 2004 and transferred to the Florida Army National Guard in April 2004. Specialist Davis mobilized with the 144th Transportation Company for Operation Iraqi Freedom in May 2004.
Specialist Daryl A. Davis was born on May 20, 1984, in Torrance, Calif. He graduated from Spencer High School in May 2002.
He is survived by his mother, Dana Davis, and brother, Alex Davis, of Spencer, and father Richard Rosado and brother Richie Rosado of Puerto Rico. Dana Davis shared these thoughts about her son:
Dana Davis shared these thoughts about her son:
“I was always proud of Daryl for serving in the military and I knew this was what he wanted to do. When they started calling units up to go to Iraq, I wanted to send him somewhere safer; but he knew the possibility of serving overseas. Daryl knew at the age of 17 that he wanted to be in the Guard and he would have done it with or without my consent. But I knew that’s what he wanted to do, so I supported him.”
Indeed,
Alejandro's son, Daryl A. Davis, was not added to the Puerto Rican war memorial.
He joined the National Guard in Florida, to help pay his way through motorcycle
repair school, and he previously lived in Iowa with his mother. But his father
wrote letters to the Army and said he has been assured his son's name will be
added next year.
Pedro Rossello, a former governor of Puerto Rico and author of ''The Unfinished
Business of American Democracy," compares the plight of Puerto Ricans serving in
Iraq and Afghanistan with black soldiers who fought in two world wars, Korea,
and Vietnam, but had to fight for civil rights in their own country. ''When
black soldiers came back, there was this very dramatic recognition that their
civil rights weren't being recognized," he said in a telephone interview
yesterday. ''That led to a very strong reaction and a push in the 1960s that saw
the adoption of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts. This time we need a
final resolution of our civil rights."
Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.
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SPENCER, Iowa
— A former Iowan who died in Iraq was outgoing and popular, and liked
motorcycles and partying, family and friends said Thursday at his funeral. Daryl
Davis died Nov. 29 as he rode in a Humvee between military camps in what the
military called a non-hostile accident.
“A life so full of promise and yet has been cut short,” said the Rev. Roger
Linnan, who delivered the eulogy.
The 20-year-old National Guardsman would be remembered for “his wonderful
personality, his talents, his achievements and his love of life,” Linnan said.
“Daryl was a gift who spread God’s love everywhere — everywhere that he went in
his young life,” Linnan said. “He gave the greatest gift of love: his life.”
His family remembered Davis with a mixture of grief and humor.
His mother, Dana Davis, read a poem she dedicated to her son, choking up as she
recited the final line: “Do not stand at my grave and cry. I am not there. I did
not die.”
Although he wasn’t old enough to drink legally, his family urged friends to
remember him with a beer anyway.
“Daryl liked beer, and if you go to his gravesite, take a beer and sip it with
him,” his grandmother, Lillian Rosado, told a crowd of more than 600 at the
Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Davis was buried at a nearby cemetery with full
military honors.
Davis was known as “Double D” in this northwestern Iowa town, where he attended
high school and joined the Iowa National Guard in 2001.
He moved to Orlando, Fla., to attend the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in April
2004 and transferred to the Florida National Guard. His unit, the 144th
Transportation Company, was sent to Iraq the following month.
Rosado, visiting from Puerto Rico, said she quickly learned about Davis’
interests.
“To my surprise, he was quite a ladies’ man,” she said, causing the crowd to
erupt into laughter.
Davis left behind two younger brothers — Richie, who lives with his father in
Puerto Rico, and Alex, who cried as he walked down the center aisle of the
church behind his older brother’s casket.
Alex, a student at Spencer High School, recently described his brother as his
“hero” in a school essay.
“He has always been there for me,” he wrote. “He’s my hero because he’s in Iraq
serving our country.”
Before he left town, Davis and his friends started an informal motorcycle club.
Wearing bandanas that read “RIP Double D,” the 15 remaining members rode their
motorcycles behind the funeral procession, the sounds of revving engines
drowning out the sobs of mourners leaving the church.
Links
iowa national guard.com/cSpcDavis
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