Derrick J. Lutters
Profile
Age: 24
From: Burlington, Colo.
Assigned to the 891st Engineer Battalion, Kansas Army National Guard, Pittsburg, Kan.
Incident: Army Sgt. Derrick J. Lutters was killed May 1 when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated while his unit was inspecting a bridge for enemy tampering along a supply route in Iraq.
Died: May 01, 2005
Father remembers fallen son as a peacemaker
By John Milburn
Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. — As a high school wrestler, Derrick Joseph Lutters once faced a mentally retarded opponent.
He could have pinned the boy easily and won. Instead, he let his opponent win.
That incident was recalled Tuesday by Lutters’ father, who was mourning the death of his son, a Kansas Army National Guard specialist who died in Iraq on Sunday. [He has promoted posthumously — Military Times Ed.]
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said the 24-year-old’s death reminded Kansans of the sacrifices made by soldiers and their families. It also brought home a political irony, coming the same day legislators cut in half a benefit for the families of Guard members who die in combat and limiting it for two soldiers killed earlier this year.
But for Chuck Lutters of Goodland, the soldier’s father, the story is about a young man who wanted to be a...
Occupation
Incident
Prayers & Messages
Sincerely,
a mother of a soldier