Charles A. Drier
Sergeant, United States Army
May 15, 1977 – May 24, 2005
Age – 28
Caro, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Battery B, 1st Battalion, 76th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, GA
Killed when an improvised explosive device exploded near his vehicle
Sgt. Charles “Chuck” Allen Drier, 28, of Caro, was killed in action on Tuesday, May 24, 2005, in Baghdad, Iraq. He was born May 15, 1977 in Caro. Chuck graduated from Unionville-Sebewaing Area High School in 1995. He played football and ran track, enjoyed snowboarding and the Detroit Red Wings. He was a talented artist and showed promise of being a talented writer. Chuck worked for a few years for the Capri Restaurant in Caro and worked for Thomas Roofing in Cass City before joining the Army in 2001.
Chuck was part of the opening attack on Baghdad that started the war in 2003.
Charles A. Drier was coming home in July for a joyous occasion: He would walk his mother down the aisle for her second marriage. “He wasn’t just my son,” said his mother, Mary. “He was my best friend. I’ll miss his smile, his compassion.” Drier, 28, of Tuscola, Mich., was killed May 24 when an explosive detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad. He was based at Fort Stewart. Drier played football in high school and was known as a generous natural leader. “He liked structure, discipline, tradition,” said his former coach, Tim Travis. The 1995 high school graduate enlisted in the Army in 2001 after stints as a cook and roofer. He saw the Army as a chance for college and a new career. “He felt like his life was going nowhere,” Mary Drier said. “There’s nothing but dead-end jobs around here. He wanted his life to have a purpose, to have some meaning.” He aspired to be a writer. “He was an avid reader and talked about writing a book,” his mother said. “Fiction. He sent me some pages, and I was very impressed. I was looking forward to reading more, but…”
Chuck is survived by his mother, Mary (Mark Hill) Drier, of Unionville; father, Michael and Sabrina Drier and children, of Unionville, Tennessee; daughter, Bailie Lockhart, of Caro; brother, Jason (Raquel Torrez) Drier, of Caro; girlfriend, Amanda Altznauer, of Savannah, Georgia; aunt, Lynn Dillon and her husband, Gary, of Cass City; uncle, Joseph Brandmair and his wife, Sara, of Caro; Bailie’s mother, Amanda Lockhart, of Caro; and many cousins.