Awaiting Son, Parents Told of His Death

RIVERSIDE —  Pfc. David W. Kramer’s parents were in a Palm Desert bowling alley the evening President Bush announced a cease-fire in the Persian Gulf. In front of the TV in the lounge, they celebrated with their league what they were sure would be the imminent homecoming of their son.

But it was not to be. On Monday, less than a week later, the Kramers returned from the supermarket to find a U.S. Army chaplain at their door. In one of the more bitter ironies of this war, they were told belatedly that their 20-year-old son was killed just hours before the shooting was called to a halt.

“You think, 89 casualties out of half a million people out there,” said the soldier’s stepmother, Tina Kramer, 34, referring to an early report on the number of Americans killed in action. “That’s such a minute figure--89. It gives you a feeling that it couldn’t happen to us. We should never have let our guard down.”

Kramer was among seven soldiers and a Marine officer whose names were listed Tuesday on the roster of the nation’s war dead. He was killed Feb. 27. His family said the chaplain had blamed a mix-up in their address for the notification delay.

The others were identified as Army Sgt. Tony R. Applegate, 28, of Portsmouth, Ohio; Army Sgt. Jason C. Carr, 24, of Halifax, Va.; Army Pfc. James C. Murray Jr., 20, of Conroe, Tex.; Army Sgt. Cheryl L. O’Brien, 24, of Racine, Wis.; Army 1st Lt. Donaldson P. Tillar III, 25, of Miller School, Va.; Army Pvt. Roger E. Valentine, 19, of Memphis, Tenn., and Marine Capt. James N. Wilbourn, 28, of Huntsville, Ala.

An Army spokeswoman, Maj. Nancy Burt, said that Kramer died of wounds he suffered when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle came under enemy fire. Neither she nor the family had any more details. Kramer was assigned to Company B of the 1st battalion of the 2nd Armored Division’s 41st Infantry.

“We’re absolutely crushed,” Tina Kramer wept during an interview at the family’s Palm Desert home. “We still feel that it just can’t be. We were sure our boy would be coming home. But then, I’m sure the other . . . families felt the same way.”

She said that Kramer--the only son among four children--had enlisted in the Army almost two years ago, following in the footsteps of his father, David G. Kramer, a former Army sergeant who had earned the Purple Heart during the Vietnam War.

“He loved his father so much,” Tina Kramer said.

She said Kramer had been stationed in Germany when he was deployed to the Gulf on Jan. 7.

He wrote regularly from Saudi Arabia, she said.

“Well, I turn 20 in three days,” one of his last letters said. “I just wish I was home for it. I’d rather be watching this war at home than be in it.”