Cover Story for October 20, 2005
By Jim White
On Jan. 15, 2005, as Sgt. Jayton Patterson led his Marines down a village lane in Babil Province, south of Baghdad, he halted them. Something didn't look right. Ordering them to stay put, he moved out. It would be his last command.
Only 10 hours earlier he was talking with his parents on the phone-just the fourth call he could arrange in the seven months he had served in Iraq. He would be home at the end of the month, he told them. In fact, he had already mailed his personal effects to Stephanie, his wife. They should be arriving any day. He was full of hope.
His father, Frank Patterson, will never forget the conversation. “He told us he loved us and that he would be home soon. ‘Daddy,' he said, ‘we're doing some good things over here for these people.' We had no way of knowing it would be the last time we spoke with him.”
Doing good things for others came naturally for Jayton. He grew up in Millfield Baptist Church in Ivor where his dad is a deacon and where his mom, Sharon, works with the youth. Jayton was saved in his early teens and took his relationship with the Lord very seriously. He filled the pulpit on youth Sundays and in his 11th grade year at Tidewater Academy in Wakefield, he started a Bible club. This earned him the nickname “Bible boy.” After high school, he spent a year-and-a-half in college preparing for the ministry. But, Jayton's life took several interesting twists and turns in his brief 26 years.
He dropped out of college because, in his words, he wasn't mature enough to be a minister. He decided he needed direction and discipline so he enlisted in the Marine Corps, but shortly before leaving for boot camp he met the girl who would eventually become his wife. Stephanie, a member of Wakefield Baptist Church, remembers that they hit it off so well that Jayton kept putting off telling her that he would be leaving. “He never got around to telling me that he was leaving for the Marine Corps until the day before he left,” she remembers fondly. Then, dreamily, she adds, “That was Jayton.”
Demonstrating himself to be, in the lingo of the Corps, “AJ squared away,” Jayton was ultimately assigned to the White House to do presidential guard duty. He accompanied President Bush to ground zero in New York City on his first visit after 9/11 and decided that he wanted to do everything he could to spare his countrymen that kind of horror ever again. He went to Iraq to fight the war on terror.
But duty in Iraq had not been what he expected it to be. In a letter home he wrote, “I never thought coming here could be so violent. I thought I would be just standing guard and helping people. It is totally opposite. I have lost 12 guys. Mostly wounded, but some dead. Holding your friend's crushed skull in your hands makes you a different person. Blood, after a while, has a certain smell that makes your stomach turn in knots … . Perhaps all of this will change me. I don't know if it will be for the good or the bad. I can't wash my thoughts of the dramatic deaths I have experienced. I received a medal today for heroism in the face of hostile fire. I would give that medal back in a second to see my fallen buddies again for a minute.”
As Sgt. Patterson's Marines watched, he approached the area of suspicion with caution. His instincts had served his men and him well and more than once had kept them alive. But, on this occasion there was no way to avoid the threat. And he would not send somebody else to check it out. But the Marines were not the only ones watching. A pair of eyes peered coldly from beneath a turban. An improvised explosive device was detonated and an explosion … .
That morning, Stephanie received the box Jayton sent, and upon opening it, she found two disposable cameras with pictures to be developed. She immediately called Sharon to say the box had arrived. It was tangible evidence that soon Jayton would be home with Stephanie and their baby girl, Claire.
Twenty minutes later, as her brother drove her to get the pictures developed, he got a call. “We're going back home,” he announced to Stephanie and turned the car around. When they arrived, Stephanie saw a white van with government license plates. “Then I saw the Marines, and I knew. I vaguely remember a Marine carrying me into the house.”
Meanwhile, at Jayton's parents' home Marines were also visiting. “When I looked out the window and saw those Marines coming toward the house, I just knew what had happened,” explained Sharon. “I couldn't even go to the door. Mattie [Jayton's sister] let them in.” Just as Sharon had feared, the Marines, as compassionately as they could, shared the tragic news that Jayton had been killed, probably instantly, by a powerful explosion.
The next day, Stephanie's brother delivered two letters that had been entrusted to his care-one to Stephanie and one to Frank.
Dear Dad,
Well, Dad, if you are reading this you know I have gone to a better place. I guess it was just meant to be. Please look out for Stephanie and Claire. They are surrounded by a lot of family and love and they should be good. You have been a great Dad and I couldn't have asked for anything better. I think I have grown up to be a pretty good son, too. You have made leaps and bounds in your spirituality. I am very proud of you .… I just want you to know that I loved you, Mom, Hunter and Mattie very much.
Love, Jayton
In other letters Jayton had revealed some of his concerns.
“These people live by the gun and the gun makes the laws and enforces them. It seems unusual that a culture that prides itself in family and religion could be so ready to die and for what? The ability to say they killed an American soldier. Where is the justification … ? The people that support the insurgents are just as guilty as the people that commit the acts. Where does it stop? Can it end? The end will be as bloody as the beginning. Why? The reason is that a group of people do not want us over here. If we kill 50 it seems overnight another 50 take their place. They seem to have plenty of insurgents, but we have plenty of military also.
“It is not a Vietnam but a new war that has been underestimated because of religious beliefs. These people think if they die fighting us they will be sent to a better place than this. That overlying fact keeps the enemy coming and provides a huge supply. Religion or Islam gives these people overwhelming confidence and the ability to look death in the face and laugh. How do you counteract people that are not afraid to walk up to you with bombs strapped to their chest and blow you and them up? You can't. The Iraqis may eventually run us out of this country.”
Another concern was that the media seemed to present only one side of the war. He told his parents, “The news does not show schools being rebuilt, water being reconnected and electricity being turned on.” He wrote, “The news does not paint a good picture of this place. In one region we may be handing out food and water and a mile down the road losing guys every day. I thought the news was a good source of information till I came over here. They never show the good things we have accomplished over here. The news only covers what a man behind a desk wants to. It's an unusual portrayal that you have to be aware of while watching.”
It goes without saying that Jayton will be missed. Stephanie, much too young to be a widow, and little Claire, who will look into her father's eyes each time she sees her reflection in a mirror, will miss that one who completed their family. Frank and Sharon will never get over having a hole in their hearts. Brother Hunter and sister Mattie, will long for their big brother's voice to comfort or challenge them.
The family has been supported by their friends and community members and by their Christian brothers and sisters from churches. “We didn't have a pastor at Millfield when this happened, but within a day eight ministers had been here,” said Sharon. “Almost every person in our church came to see us. It has really brought our church together.”
Frank's sister, Mary, agrees. “Your church friends are the most incredible people I've ever seen.”
Stephanie, too, affirms that her church has sustained her these past few months. In their continuing battle with the anguish of grief, the family members will need the on-going support and prayers of their Virginia Baptist family.
In addition to the loss his family feels, the Kingdom of Christ will also miss him. Was Jayton called to preach? Who can know for sure, but the One who calls? But Jayton had decided to get out of the Marine Corps and wanted to talk with his dad and with the pastor about some things that were both confusing and becoming clear-a spiritual battle within. If not a pastor, a good and godly layman-a deacon like his father, or like his mother a minister to youth, perhaps. Like his other family, his Virginia Baptist family will always wonder what might have been.
A stanza of the Marines' Hymn asserts, “If the Army or the Navy ever look on heaven's scenes, they will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines.” Pushing past the patriotic verve and military machismo, Sgt. Jayton Patterson surely is at home there in the service of Christ.
Staff report
Jim White is editor and business manager of the Religious Herald.