Soldier 'Loved His Country'

Sergeant on 2nd Iraq Tour Had Childhood Interest in Military

Mourners attend the funeral for Army Sgt. Keith E. Fiscus, who was killed Dec. 2 in a bomb explosion in Baghdad. (By Carol Guzy -- The Washington Post)

A thin shroud of mist veiled Arlington National Cemetery yesterday as a line of soldiers in dress uniforms waited for the mourners to arrive.

A bugler stood at the entrance of a stone funerary vault, muffling his horn with a white-gloved hand while blowing a few practice notes.

Then a car drove up, and the soldiers snapped to attention, presenting arms.

One soldier removed a folded U.S. flag from the car. Another removed a box-like urn containing the remains of Army Sgt. Keith E. Fiscus.

Then Darrell and Pamela Fiscus, who had tried to dissuade their 26-year-old son from joining the military, fell in behind the escorts, followed by other family members and mourners.

The urn flashed in the sunlight as they turned toward the columbarium, a fortress-like vault where the cremated remains of military personnel are interred.

Then they stopped in a stone court, where the Army's Old Guard conducted a military funeral for Fiscus, the 285th Iraq war casualty to be laid to rest at Arlington.

Fiscus, of Townsend, Del., had reenlisted -- he renewed his commitment during his first combat tour in Iraq. He died during his second tour, when a roadside bomb hit his Humvee on Dec. 2 in Baghdad.

"It was just something he decided to do," Darrell Fiscus said in a telephone interview. "He loved his country. He just wanted to go."

Keith Fiscus was born in Glendale, Calif., the second of four children. His father said that his son's interest in the military began with G.I. Joe action figures when he was a boy. Fiscus also enjoyed golf and bass fishing and taught himself to play the electric guitar.

"He was a prankster. He was always wanting attention," Darrell Fiscus said.

Fiscus grew up mostly in Littlerock, a small town about 60 miles north of Los Angeles, before moving with his family to Delaware when he was in high school.

"He was a straight-up kid," said James Keily, an automotive teacher at Littlerock High School. Keily said that Fiscus showed a level of care for detail that was rare for students his age.

After graduating in 1998 from Glasgow High School in Delaware, Fiscus worked at a supermarket and as a credit card customer service representative. He enlisted in the Army in 2002.

Fiscus was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, based in Hawaii. Before returning to Iraq, he told his parents not to worry -- this time, the mission would be less dangerous. Then his unit recently moved to Taji, a place that was more restive, his father said.

"They had to watch their backs very closely, because they had snipers shooting at them. He had some close calls," Darrell Fiscus said. "It's senseless. It's so senseless."

During yesterday's brief ceremony, six soldiers unfolded the flag and pulled it taut over the urn. Three rifle volleys cracked, and the first plaintive notes of taps floated toward the mourners with the odor of gunpowder.

The soldiers refolded the flag, their white-gloved fingers smoothing each crease along its length, moving from the red stripes to the blue field of white stars. They tucked its folds and shaped each point. A soldier pressed it to his chest.

Then, with a salute, the flag was given to Maj. Gen. Timothy P. McHale. The general strode to the family, bent down on one knee and handed it to Pamela Fiscus, his mouth shaping words that could not be heard from the other side of the velvet rope.