After her training Hampton worked two years in South Korea, and then a short time in Afghanistan. She travelled to Iraq in September 2003. After less than four months, the second January 2004, the helicopter which Hampton was driving, was shot down in Fallujah in Central Iraq.
Kimberly Hampton made history. She was the first American woman who has died in war as a military pilot. She was 27 years old when she died. Her military rank was captain.
The families of the fallen soldiers are active in Facebook and elsewhere in internet.
The Friends of Captain Hampton collect memories of her in Facebook and her mother Ann Lewis Hampton also has there a page. There is also a memorial foundation for her.
Ann Lewis Hampton and a group of other Golden Star Mothers (American women whose child has died in war) travelled to Iraq in autumn 2010. Their dream was to visit the place where their son or daughter had died, but it did not come true. They spent whole their one week long journey in Kurdistan where no American soldier has died during the Iraqi war.
Ann Lewis Hampton got a new friend during her journey: Dilpak Tahir. They are bound to each others by a personal loss due to war.
Dilpak Tahir
Dilpak's husbabd Karim Osman was peshmerga who disappeared in September 1996 during the civil war between PUK and KDP. Dilpak does not know when and where her husband died and where his body is.
To express her thanks that Ann Lewis Hampton travelled to Iraq and to respect her daughter's memory Dilpak established a memorial place for Kimberly in Dokan near Sulaymania. In Christmas Eve 2010 Dilpak carried there a Christmas tree with her friends.
The story of Kimberly Hampton is only one of the many. More than five thousand American soldiers have died in Iraq since 2003.
Photos: Kristiina Koivunen
3 comments:
Interesting. Why is it that they were unable to visit the places where their sons and daughters died?
I also wonder this. Maybe US army knows the answer.
Hello, I am Ann Hampton, the mother of Captain Kimberly Hampton. My daughter, as well as the sons of the other mothers on our trip, was killed in volatile areas of the country, and the military/government determined that it would be unsafe for us to travel to those areas. We loved Kurdistan and the people there, and I have been back for a second visit!
Post a Comment