John W. Dearing
Private First Class, United States Army National Guard
September 19, 1984 – November 21, 20050
Age – 21
Oscoda, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Company B, 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment, Saginaw, MI
Killed when an improvised explosive detonated near the Humvee he was in
J.W. was born September 10, 1984, the son of John and Kitty Dearing. He grew up in Oscoda, Michigan, and attended high school there before moving to Hazel Park. He graduated in 2003 from Oscoda High School after signing up for the National Guard a year earlier as a junior. He loved baseball, NASCAR, bowling, and hunting. When he graduated from basic training, the family had a large party for him in Hazel Park.
“He was a good kid who graduated with all A’s and loved baseball and the Atlanta Braves,” his mother said.
John was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment (2 MEF), Saginaw, Michigan. His first duty station was in Egypt where he met up with his guard unit. He then volunteered for deployment to Iraq. On September 10th he celebrated his 21st birthday with his fellow soldiers, thousands of miles from home.
The family had no idea that just two months later they would be making his funeral arrangements. “I think we all thought he would have no problem over there; he’d do his job and come home. We really didn’t think about him getting hurt,” his grandmother Mary Dearing, said, realizing that J.W.’s positive attitude prevented them from worrying. “He’d been shot in the arm a month prior to this and we were not told about it. He e-mailed someone and said he didn’t want the rest of the family to know because he didn’t want us to worry.”
It was in this action on August 10, 2005, that J.W. was awarded the Army Commendation Medal because “with your assistance, 2 bomb markers and 2 RPG triggermen were removed from the population of Khalidiyah, Iraq.”
The National Guard reported that on November 21, 2005, at Habbaniyah, Iraq. PFC Dearing was killed instantly when an improvised explosive device, or land mine, was detonated near the Humvee that he and four other soldiers were in. The other four survived, but with serious burns. John was the Humvee’s gunner and was riding on the top in the last of four Humvees that were serving as security for military engineers. The first three trucks made it past the mine; his hit it. He was proud to be in the US Army and to serve his country.
“I wanted to keep him home,” his father said as he looked at a photo of the young man the family called “J.W.”Dearing covered his face with his hand and fought back two deep sobs. “The world lost a perfect kid,” he said.