SPC ERIC R. HULL
307th Military Police Company

Army Spc. Eric R. Hull, Age 23, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
Assigned to the 307th Military Police Company, U.S. Army Reserve, New Kensington, Pennsylvania
Killed in action when a military vehicle he was riding in hit an improvised explosive device August 18, 2003 in Baghdad.

(www.militarycity.com)

 

PENNSYLVANIA SOLDIER KILLED BY LAND MINE IN IRAQ
Associated Press
(www.militarycity.com)

PITTSBURGH — An Army Reserve cook from western Pennsylvania was killed by a land mine while hauling supplies in Iraq, his mother said Aug. 19.

Spc. Eric R. Hull, 23, a married father of two young children from Uniontown, was a member of the 99th Regional Support Command’s 307th Military Police Company out of New Kensington, said his mother, Deborah Hull.

Military personnel visited the home of Hull’s mother and father Aug. 18, but did not provide many details of his death, family members said.

But a fellow reservist who was a passenger in the vehicle Eric Hull was driving at the time of the explosion said the two were returning to Baghdad with supplies Monday when the vehicle drove over the mine, Deborah Hull said.

A 1998 graduate from Uniontown Area High School, Eric Hull was married to Missy Hull, 24, for almost five years. The couple had two children — Mia Nicole, who will be 3 in September, and 1-year-old Dominic.

Workers recently completed work on the couple’s new home and Deborah Hull said her son never got to see it.

“He always had a grin on his face. He was such a happy-go-lucky person. The only thing he wanted to do was be at home with his children and his wife; he loved her from the moment he laid eyes on her,” Deborah Hull said.

Eric Hull worked at numerous restaurants in the Fayette County area and, most recently, he worked as a chef at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa.

Before he and other reservists were called to their mobilization site at Fort Dix, N.J., Eric Hull had graduated from the Westmoreland County Community College and was lining up a job to lead a school cafeteria kitchen, Deborah Hull said.

Her son played several defensive positions for his high school football team, as a child collected He-Man action figures and baseball cards, and was an Eagle Scout, Deborah Hull said.

Eric Hull’s true talent, however, was in the kitchen. While his 19-year-old sister, Ashley, who is stationed in Germany with the Army, loved to help their father in his garage, Eric Hull liked to follow his mother, aunts and grandmother around in the kitchen. Sometimes, he would surprise his family with fresh-baked whole wheat bread, his mother said.

“He made the best Alfredo you’ll ever taste,” she said.


WIFE LOOKS BACK ON LOVE OF LIFE
AFTER HUSBAND DIES IN IRAQ
(www.heraldstandard.com)

In the blink of an eye, a makeshift explosive device in Baghdad, Iraq, took the life of a Uniontown Army reservist who was being remembered Tuesday as a devoted father, loving husband and accomplished chef.

Spc. Eric R. Hull, 23, who was driving a military vehicle returning from the Iraq airport, died Monday from injuries he received when his truck hit a land mine.

On Tuesday afternoon, less than a day after learning that her husband would never get to see the new home that they had just built together, Missy Hull sat among photographs, memories, friends and family to talk about the six years she spent with the love of her life.

The pair were married Oct. 31, 1998, several months after Eric graduated from high school. Missy said that Eric, who she said had the most beautiful attitude and smile, jokingly called her the older woman because she was six months older than him. After first meeting in algebra class at Uniontown Area High School, the pair began dating after Missy graduated from high school in 1997.

"We got married right out of high school and stuck together ever since," the 23-year-old said. "We spent the best six years of our life together. We always stuck by each other's side."

A chef by trade, Hull had started a new job as a food service manager for Nutrition Inc. last November. Missy Hull said he was in charge of the West Greene School District and had been working in the Central Greene School District. Hull had taken the job to be able to spend more time with his family. He previously worked as a chef in Nemacolin Woodlands, which often required long hours away from Missy and the children.

"He had just got a brand new job. He was so happy to spend lots of time with his kids and family," Missy Hull said.

"He gave me the two most beautiful gifts anyone could give," she said of their children: Mia, who will turn 3 next month and Dominic, 1. "He loved kids. He wanted to have one more. I told him we could as long as he got out of the Army and he said that was a fair deal," Missy Hull said.

Among the pictures of Eric that Missy displayed was one of the four of them that was taken right before he was deployed.

"He always put his family first, always," she said. "He was such a great dad. We decided to have kids young because he said he wanted to be young with them, he wanted to enjoy them."

Missy said Eric would read to the children every night. She said at night they would each put a child to bed and then spend their time together.

Eric Hull joined the reserves for an eight-year enlistment right out of high school. Although he nearly got deployed a year ago, serving in Iraq was his first deployment. He left Feb. 28 for Fort Dix, N.J., and was sent to Iraq on May 1.

Two months ago, Missy and the children moved into their newly constructed house and out of the Missy's parents' home. Currently, a phlebotomist at Jefferson Hospital, Missy has an associate degree in nursing and is studying to be an registered nurse.

Missy's parents loved Eric.

"He was like a son,'' said Missy's mother, Milica DeFabbo. Her father, Anthony DeFabbo, praised Eric as a father, noting there was nothing he wouldn't do for his children.

Even though Eric didn't get to see their new house, Missy said he picked out everything except the kitchen sink.

"He'd say, anything for you, mom," she said. Although Missy was considering carpeting for the kitchen, she opted to tile because it was what Eric wanted.

"When he saw that he said you made me the happiest man alive," she said. She sent Eric a video of the house and he e-mailed that he wanted a video of the inside of all the cupboards.

"Eric often referred to us as soul mates and we were. We gabbed about everything. He said if we could talk every other day he would be all right," Missy said.

The couple spoke every other day and e-mailed each other every day. In an e-mail a few weeks ago, Eric said that he had the most wonderful wife and kids and he was the luckiest man alive.

"He told me every day in e-mails how beautiful and special his family was to him. He felt that he was so satisfied, and he never regretted anything he did in his whole life."

While in Iraq, Missy said that her husband carried pictures of her and the children in his helmet and always kept them near his bunk.

"He said his feet never hit the floor until he saw pictures of his family," she said.

Recently, Eric had his Boonie hat engraved with Missy, Mia and Dom in Arabic and English, Missy said. She said Hubba, as she referred to him, frequently got up at 2 a.m. to use the phone home.

"I told him you must really love me to use the phone that early," she said.

Missy said that Eric told her that cooking for the guys over there made him feel like he was cooking for his family. Missy said Eric always did the cooking. She said when he attended Westmoreland Community College he won several medals for food presentations.

"And at the time he had a little girl and a wife," she said.

Always the romantic, Eric would leave notes around the house with messages like "I can't wait to get home and see you," Missy said. She said he would always give her cards, for every occasion.

"I have all the notes and cards," she said. "There must be hundreds of notes and thousands of cards."

"He said we were the dynamic team. We could get the kids ready in 20 minutes," Missy said. On their wedding invitations, it said "Sweethearts for life," Missy said.

"He was a sweetheart and I told him every day," she said. "We held hands at night. It was just little things."

When she would try to argue with her husband, Missy said he would just laugh.

"The only time he got mad at me was for not getting him a $2 Cardinal shirt at Gabe's," she said. "He was the kind of guy everybody loved. He would light up a room."

Missy Hull said Eric was a very mature guy for being only 23.

"He opened the car door for me from the time I met him. He never missed a day," she said. "It was amazing the bond we had, we had deja vu all the time," she said. Missy said one time she wanted to get a playhouse for Mia, and while she was thinking about it, Eric said he would get it for her.

"He called me his best friend all the time and he was my best friend. He was the kind of person you just loved to be around," she said. Among their future plans were matching tattoos with love, family and happiness written in Chinese.

"In the five years we were married, we lived 25," she said.

Eric had called Missy at 3 a.m. Monday morning. The 15-minute conversation was two hours before he died.

"It was the best 15-minute conversation we ever had," Missy said. "I told him you can call me anytime day or night you make me so happy."

While he was in Iraq, Missy said Eric's friend Darren made it easier.

"He said Darren was the only thing getting him through the deployment and he said the same thing about Eric," she said. Missy spoke to Darren after Eric's death and heard firsthand about the explosion. She said Darren will be coming home with Eric's body.

When she was talking to Darren, Missy said he cut out and music like that from an ice cream truck came on the line. She said she had never heard that type of upbeat music before- in the past the phone had just cut out.

"It was very bizarre but because of the way we were I felt that it was him saying, please don't cry, just laugh," she said.

"He left me his dog tag before he left and said it was my good luck charm," Missy added. She said he also left a signed picture of him sleeping that said, always by your side, 'Love Hubba'."



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