26, of Dover, Tenn.; assigned to the 705th Ordnance Company,

Fort Polk, La.; killed Dec. 21 when his base dining facility was attacked in Mosul, Iraq.

 

Cory M. Hewitt was easy to recognize during college football games.

When the horn sounded to signal the end of the second quarter, Hewitt scrambled to unstrap his shoulder pads, grabbed his trombone and joined the band on the field for the halftime show.

 

When the final note sounded, Hewitt strapped on the pads again for the second half. "That's what a lot of people will remember him for," said Raymond Hewitt, his father.

"That was Cory. He did it all." Hewitt, 26, of Stewart, Tenn., died Dec. 21 in an attack on a mess hall near Mosul. He was based at Fort Polk.

 

Hewitt graduated cum laude in 2001 from West Liberty State College in West Virginia.

"He loved to read. When you watched 'Jeopardy!' with him, he'd beat the contestants on the show. I'd always say, 'How did you know that?'" Raymond Hewitt remembered.

 

Cory Hewitt also is survived by his mother, Judy. Raymond Hewitt said his son's last contact

with his family was an e-mail to his sister. "Most of the letter was about how busy he was and how he got to watch the Steelers-Giants game. He was critiquing the game," he said.

 "That sounds like Cory."

 

Source: Associated Press