|
DeForest
L.
Talbert—October
2005 Shipment Honoree
Army Sgt., 24, of Charleston,
W.Va.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 150th Armor Regiment,
West Virginia Army National Guard, Beckley, W.Va.; killed July
27, 2004 when an improvised explosive device detonated near
his vehicle in Baladruc, Iraq.
A Life
Redeemed, Then Cut Short
Soldier Killed in Iraq Had Become Role Model After Troubled
Teen Years in Alexandria
Source: S.
Mitra Kalita,
Washington Post
(July 30, 2004)
DeForest L.
Talbert entered the alternative education program at T.C.
Williams High School the way a lot of students do—full of
resentment. He was raised by a single mother in a public
housing complex in north Old Town Alexandria. He spent much of
his freshman year skipping class and talking back to teachers.
He was bright, athletic and good-looking—and he knew it,
recalled Carolyn Lewis, principal of the Secondary Training
and Education Program, which supports students who aren't
doing as well as they could. "He was really in trouble in the
streets," Lewis said.
Talbert was
supposed to try the program for a year—and stayed for three,
thriving. By senior year, he was a star running back on the
football team, known to teammates and fans as "Touchdown
Talbert." He became a mentor to children from low-income
families at a nearby preschool. Then he went to West Virginia
State College on a military scholarship and joined the Army
National Guard, dividing his time between service and school.
On Tuesday,
Talbert, 22, was killed in Baladruc, Iraq, when a bomb
exploded near his vehicle during a routine patrol with other
members of the Guard's 1st Battalion, 150th Armor Regiment,
based in Dunbar, West Virginia. Department of Defense
officials said yesterday that the incident is under
investigation.
Years after he
left Alexandria, teachers, police officers and children on the
streets still marveled at the transformation of "Dee," as he
was called, from a tough-talking, troubled teenager to
football star, responsible father and Army sergeant.
"Here's this
kid who went through so many hurdles growing up in the inner
city," said Jill Lingle, a George Washington Middle School
resource police officer who knows Talbert's family. "Even the
younger boys I know at the school would talk about him. They'd
say, 'Did you see what Dee did?' Everyone knew he'd gone on to
college. He was definitely a role model for these young kids
growing up in the same way."
Friends, former
teachers and mentors have crowded the Alexandria home of his
mother, Gloria Nesbitt, this week to offer condolences and
support.
Talbert's
girlfriend, Frances Hamilett, 22, said she had spent much of
Monday at the home she shared with him in Charleston, West
Virginia, trading instant messages with him over the Internet.
As always, he asked about their son, Deontae, who turned 3
last week.
"We were having
regular conversation," she said. "He didn't want to go on
patrol. He kept saying he loved us and we would see him in
August. I think he felt something might happen. He kept
saying, 'Don't get off the computer.' It was like he knew
something was going to happen."
On Wednesday,
two Army officers arrived at Hamilett's home and told her
Talbert was dead. She said she fell to her knees crying.
They were
talking about marriage, she said, but no wedding date was set.
They had had a hard time in recent years, both emotionally and
financially. They were college freshmen when Hamilett became
pregnant, and they feared that one or both of them might have
to drop out of school. Hamilett wants to be a social worker;
Talbert was studying communications.
"It was a
struggle, but we overcame it," Hamilett said. "While I was in
class, he would watch our son, and we went back and forth like
that."
Deployed in
February, Talbert kept in frequent touch with his family,
complaining of Iraq's intense heat and promising his son that
he would be home to watch the next Dallas Cowboys game.
Hamilett said Talbert was not particularly patriotic or
political but had enrolled in the Army so they could stay in
school and he could provide for Deontae.
"He wanted to
make sure he had money for our son," Hamilett said. "The
reason he signed up was to have money to pay for school. It
was a job. I don't think he ever thought he was going to war."
During the last
year, T.C. Williams students sent Talbert letters and care
packages, and Talbert wrote them back thanking them for their
thoughts—and for making him the envy of his fellow soldiers.
"He said he was
the only one who got a lot of mail because we always wrote to
him," Lewis said.
Lewis said
Talbert never forgot his friends in Alexandria and reached out
to them often through the computer and telephone. His
messages, she said, were filled with humor and gratitude. "We
are a smaller learning community rather than a mainstream
school," Lewis said. "We were his family."
Lewis said she
received an e-mail from Talbert on Tuesday and regrets deeply
that she didn't save it. "Just want you to know that I'm
fine," it said. "It's still hot." | 
