
PENDLETON, Ore. — An Oregon National Guard soldier who died in Afghanistan was remembered Thursday as a loving husband and father who decided to help to defend the country.
Staff Sgt. Tane Baum, 30, died last month along with fellow Pendleton National Guard member Warrant Officer Adrian Stump, 22, when their Chinook helicopter went down. Baum and Stump were deployed to Kandahar in March with D Company, 113 Aviation.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a former Marine, told the more than 600 people who attended the service in Pendleton that he prays every morning that “no more of our sons and daughters will be taken.”
But he said the deaths of Baum and Stump show that the conflict in Afghanistan is not over.
“We’ve all lost an irreplaceable part of our lives and future,” Kulongoski said, adding that Baum willingly went into harm’s way...