Father of soldier backs war in Iraq

POWELL, Wyo. -- The father of one of the first U.S. soldiers killed in action in Iraq said he supports the U.S. attack.

"I feel this needed to be done," said Joseph Childers.

Second Lt. Therrel Shane Childers, 30, of the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton in California, was killed last Friday in southern Iraq.

Joseph Childers was in the Navy for more than 20 years, including a stint in Vietnam, before retiring and moving to Wyoming with his wife 13 years ago.

The conflict with Iraq had been simmering for too long, the elder Childers said. Too often, dictators such as Saddam Hussein are created and allowed to flourish while others suffer, he said.

"The first thing dictators do is oppress their own people and then they go after others," Childers said.

With the United Nations apparently unwilling to take decisive action, Childers said someone else had to take charge.

The younger Childers, who was called Shane, entered the Marines shortly after graduating high school in 1990 in Harrison, Miss. He served in the first Persian Gulf War, graduated from The Citadel in South Carolina in 2001 and returned to the Mideast in early February as a second lieutenant in the 1st Marine Division.

He died leading his infantry platoon in a firefight to secure an oil pumping station, U.S. Central Command said.

"He wanted to do the best at whatever he was doing," Joseph Childers said. "He's always been the leader ... he was just that type of individual."

The elder Childers and his wife, Judy, who moved to Powell in 1990, were in Texas on vacation last week when they got news of their son's death.

Speaking on the family's porch in front of an American flag at half-staff Sunday morning, Joseph Childers said his son visited their Powell farm over Christmas and recently told them he was prepared for the conflict ahead.

His father remembered working together during Thanksgiving to harness the family's draft horses in front of a wooden bobsled in the snow.

"He loved it up here," Childers said.

There have been dozens of phone calls and visits from friends since word of Childers' death was issued on Saturday.

Eddy Oldman, a Marine veteran and neighbor, stopped by Sunday morning with groceries and other items for the family. The reality of the war in Iraq hits hard when a local family is directly affected, he said.

"It shocked me. It just totally shocked me," said Oldman, vice commander of the American Legion in Powell. "We're never ready for something like this to happen."

There were no immediate plans for a local ceremony to honor Childers but residents from Powell and the surrounding area offered their support and sympathy, Mayor Jim Milburn said.

"From the community, our sorrow in their loss," Milburn said. "We appreciate his dedication for the United States."