By T.D. Flack, South Korea bureau chief
Pacific edition
Stars & Stripes
Thursday, June 20, 2002

CAMP HOWZE — A single row of seven empty chairs faced a nearly 400-soldier formation. Instead of grieving family members, a single lit candle stood in front of each chair.

It wasn’t supposed to be that way.

The families of two 13-year-old girls who were killed by a U.S. Army tracked vehicle on June 13 declined an invitation to Tuesday night’s candlelight vigil at Camp Howze.

The girls were killed when the 60-ton vehicle from the 2nd Infantry Division’s Bravo Company, 44th Engineer Battalion at Howze ran them over near the Twin Bridges training area last week. The soldiers planned the vigil to remember the girls.

As an Army band played soft music and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters drifted lazily overhead, soldiers slowly marched into the base club’s parking lot.

Soldiers lined up in rows in the grass as their platoon leaders barked cadence. Many glanced toward the podiums and two large Korean funeral wreaths of white flowers. “We pray for your soul,” was written on each wreath in Korean characters and an expression of sympathy was written in Chinese characters.

Staring silently back at the soldiers were the girls, their images caught on film and blown up into large photos.

Somewhere in the ranks stood the two crewmembers who were in the tracked vehicle when it struck the girls. South Korean officials identified the driver as Sgt. Mark Walker but didn’t provide the other soldier’s name. Base officials have turned down requests for interviews with the soldiers because of an ongoing investigation.

Many of the soldiers — as many as could fit in the chapel — had been to a battalion memorial at 6 p.m., said Maj. Dale Kornuta, 44th Engineer Battalion executive officer. He said about 250 soldiers filled the pews for a somber 45-minute ceremony before the vigil.

VIPs sat behind the families’ empty chairs — including Maj. Gen. Russel Honoré, 2nd Infantry Division commanding general; Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller of U.S. Forces Korea; Brig. Gen. Philip Coker, 2ID assistant division commander for movement; and Republic of Korea military and government officials.

While the base holds services for its own troops, this is the first case most people knew of in which South Koreans were honored.

The memorial was planned, said 2ID’s chaplain, so the community could draw closer in the aftermath of the accident.

“We grieve together as a community,” said Lt. Col. Jack Van Dyken. “In the aftermath of 9/11, we saw how important it is to come together. We knew that this was a time for us to draw together here.”

He said the U.S. soldiers wanted to help the families grieve and bring their own closure.

Honore, one hand cupping the flame on his candle, slowly led the dignitaries into the formation, where they lit the soldiers’ candles. Soldiers in the companies were softly bathed in the candlelight, with their faces lit below their black berets.

As the soldiers held their candles, they sang the first stanza of “Amazing Grace.” The Korean national anthem preceded “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the final prayer.

After the ceremony, the VIPs placed their candles at the base of the wreaths and photos. The soldiers spontaneously followed suit, with the whole formation slowly filing up to place candles on the ground. Many soldiers bowed their heads; some paused for a long look at the photos.

“The reason we’re here is to provide peace,” Honoré said. “Incidents like this hurt our hearts.”