Tribute

Go down a couple of posts to “For those who serve” and please view the link. And while it unfolds, please pray for Capt. Kevin Landeck and his family. 

Landeck’s mother wept for her fallen son outside his Wheaton School. Flowers lay in tribute to Landeck, a Whittier alumnus and valiant soldier killed Friday by a roadside bomb near Baghdad.

“He was my hero. I saw him grow from a regular high school kid to a leader of men in a combat zone,” said Richard Landeck, Kevin’s father.

He was a leader who graduated from Purdue before joining the Army. He hoped one day to serve in the FBI, but first served the men of his platoon.

“His goal when he goes there was to bring home all of his men without a scratch,” said Kevin’s mother, Vicki Landeck.

Vicki Landeck was my friend. We played tennis together years ago at a local club, when our children were younger and life seemed safer.

After Kevin’s death his boss called the family to say the 26-year-old was a soldier’s soldier.

“He said everyone on the base wanted to be part of his platoon,” Vicki Landeck said.

I believe that, knowing his mother. He made the ultimate sacrifice. The patriot guard turned out to honor and protect Kevin as he was laid to rest today. Wheaton school children formed long lines along the procession route to pay tribute to a local boy. They called him a hero, and he was.

Requiescat in pace.