Oregon pen pal remembers soldier

North Charleston teacher also recalls Sgt. James Craig

Oregon farmer Cynthia Heeren has corresponded with hundreds of soldiers serving in combat over the years. She'd never lost one of them to war — until Monday.

One of her favorite pen pals, Army Sgt. James E. Craig, a 2000 graduate of North Charleston's Academic Magnet High School, was one of five soldiers killed this week by a roadside bomb in Mosul, Iraq. The men were assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade

Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colo.

The attack coincided with a rifle ambush from insurgents, according to news reports. Also killed in the attack were Staff Sgt. Gary W. Jeffries, 37, of Roscoe, Texas; Spc. Evan A. Marshall, 21, of Athens, Ga.; Pfc. Brandon A. Meyer, 20, of Orange, Calif.; and Pvt. Joshua A.R. Young, 21, of Riddle, Ore.

Karen Collins Hames, a physics instructor, taught Craig his senior year at Academic Magnet.

She remembers him as cheerful and outgoing, someone who would help anyone in a heartbeat. "He had a terrific sense of humor and also was a person of faith."

Heeren never got the chance to meet Craig in person, but she knew the details of his life from long letters he would send from the battlefield. They occasionally spoke by phone. "He was just a terrific kid. He had this great smile and it came through in his letters. His spirit came through."

Craig, 26, often wrote about his love for his family and his Christian faith. He felt fortunate to have a support system back home and would ask Heeren to round up pen pals for his buddies, so they could receive mail, too.

Heeren remembers when Craig called her with exciting news. He'd met a girl, the one he would marry. Her name was Natalie. "It was love at first sight," she said

"She is the kind of woman that God would want me to have," Craig wrote in a 2006 letter. "So we are going to take things slowly and keep our relationship pure. I am very excited about her."

They married in July 2007. A wedding photo shows Craig decked out in his Army dress blues, his Infantry blue cord worn proudly over his right shoulder. In her silky white dress, Natalie held her husband tight and beamed at the camera.

A few months later, Craig shipped out for what Heeren said was his third deployment to Iraq. "He loved the Army. He loved what he was doing."

Craig had been in the Army eight years. He planned to serve until 2010 and return to Washington state to start a family with Natalie.

While Craig spent a few years in South Carolina during high school and the military listed his home of record as Hollywood, he considered the Spokane, Wash., area his real home, Heeren said.

Attempts to reach Craig's family in Washington were unsuccessful. Funeral arrangements likely will take place in the Spokane area, Heeren said.

Hames last spoke to Craig before his first deployment to Iraq. "He asked me to pray for him, that he would be safe," she recalled. "But he then said, 'If it ever is my time to go, I know I'm ready.' "

Reach Ron Menchaca at rmenchaca@postandcourier.com or 937-5724.