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A soldier on leave from Afghanistan arrived at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Feb. 10 to a grand welcome from family and friends.
His story is similar to countless men and women who have served the country. But what makes Lt. Carter Cheek unique is the bracelet he’s worn since 2002 – a remembrance of an Army Ranger from Plano who died in Somalia in 1993.
Cheek, who is a 2006 Southern Methodist University alumnus, bought the bracelet, engraved with the name of Sgt. James C. Joyce,while at Fort Benning, Ga. At the time, Cheek didn’t know that Joyce was a 1987 Plano Senior High graduate and the namesake for the Plano Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4380.
“I bought [the bracelet] to honor someone that this country had forgotten because he died in a small conflict,” Cheek said.
The lieutenant became good friends with Scott Piland at SMU, who later married Kelly McKinney of Plano. Kelly’s sister, Tammy Nicodemus (formerly McKinney), noticed Cheek’s bracelet at Scott and Kelly’s rehearsal dinner. She realized that Joyce, who was known by his middle name Casey, was in her graduation class at Plano Senior High. While Nicodemus wasn’t close to Joyce, she remembers him best from when they were in the same third-grade homeroom class at Davis Elementary.
“He was shy but had the best smile – big and open and friendly,” Nicodemus said. “After his death, that was the thing that got to me most – just trying to make sense of both my memory of Casey as a third-grader and yet, at the same time, Casey as the big, brave soldier who gave his life.”
Cheek said the bracelet was an inspiration to work toward his goal of becoming a Ranger.
“Some guys in my unit have switched over to wear bracelets of guys that we have lost in Afghanistan, but I haven’t,” he said. “I’ll probably wear it until it falls off of me.”
Cheek visited his family in Mississippi last week and now has returned to Dallas to meet with friends before going back to Afghanistan Thursday.
UPDATE AFTER OUR PRINT DEADLINE:
Becky McKinney, the mother of Kelly and Tammy, is working to arrange a meeting of Cheek and Joyce’s mother. She was able to reach the fallen soldier's mother, Gail Joyce Gibbs, Wednesday night. She now lives in Granbury and said she enjoys hearing from people with a connection to Casey. A date for Gibbs to meet Cheek has not been arranged yet.Christ United Methodist Church in Plano, where McKinney is a member, has been sending packages to Cheek in Afghanistan.
To find out how to send him packages, or to join a group that will say goodbye to the soldier at the airport Thursday, e-mail McKinney at sugar.pop@tx.rr.com.
