Dustin Allan Yancey – Private First Class, United States Army

by

NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 1159-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 7, 2005

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.  They died in Baghdad, Iraq, on November 4, 2005, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their HMMWV during convoy operations.  The soldiers were assigned to the 26th Forward Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Georgia.

Killed were:
Captain James M. Gurbisz, 25, of Eatontown, New Jersey
Private First Class Dustin A. Yancey, 22, of Goose Creek, South Carolina

November 7, 2005

A Cedar Rapids, Iowa,  native was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, his father said.

Dustin Allan Yancey, 22, was driving an armored Humvee on Friday south of Baghdad when the explosion occurred. He had been in Iraq since January and was due to leave December 1, 2005, said his father, Tom Yancey of Goose Creek, South Carolina.

Dustin Yancey was an Army Private First class with the 3rd Infantry Division, based out of Fort Stewart, Georgia. He was a member of a special platoon that provided security to military convoys.

dayancey-photo-01

 

Dustin Yancey was born in Cedar Rapids and attended Hiawatha and Garfield elementary schools before moving with his family in 1991 when the Army sent his father to Charleston, South Carolina.

His uncle, Kevin White of Cedar Rapids, said the family is trying to have the soldier buried in Arlington National Cemetery but hopes to have a memorial service in Cedar Rapids.

‘‘We’ve just got to do something for him. He gave his life for his country, and he deserves something,’’ White said.

 

Military officials said roadside bombs are more popular among insurgents because they are difficult to detect.

5 November 2005:

A Cedar Rapids native was killed Friday by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, Iraq.

Dustin Allan Yancey, 22, was driving an armored Humvee when the bomb exploded about noon Friday and died as a result of his injuries, according to his father, Tim Yancey of Goose Creek, South Carolina, a Charleston suburb.

Tim Yancey, who is also in the Army, said his son, a Private First Class, was a member of the 3rd Infantry Division of the Army, based out of Fort Stewart, Georgia, and had been in Iraq since January.

He was a member of a special platoon called “Top Flight,” an elite group that provided security to military convoys. He was slated to be out of Iraq around the first of December and home in January 2006, his father said.

Dustin Yancey — Allan to his friends — was born in Cedar Rapids and attended Hiawatha and Garfield elementary schools before moving with his family in 1991 when the Army sent his father to Charleston.

He still has several relatives in Cedar Rapids, including grandparents Orval Walton and Peggy Yancey.

Yancey’s uncle, Kevin White of Cedar Rapids, said the family is trying to have Allan buried in Arlington National Cemetery but hopes to have a local memorial service in Cedar Rapids.

“We’ve just got to do something for him … he gave his life for his country, and he deserves something,” White said.

Military officials said this week that the roadside bombs are becoming the weapons of choice for insurgents because they are difficult to detect.

November 8, 2005:

A Cedar Rapids native was killed Friday by a roadside bomb in Iraq, his father said.

Dustin Allan Yancey, 22, was driving an armored Humvee south of Baghdad when the explosion occurred. He had been in Iraq since January and was due to leave December 1, 2005, said his father, Tom Yancey of Goose Creek, South Carolina.

Private First Class Dustin Yancey was with the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, based in Fort Stewart, Georgia. He was born in Cedar Rapids and attended Hiawatha and Garfield elementary schools there before moving with his family in 1991 when the Army sent his father to Charleston, South Carolina.

A cousin, Brian Yancey of Cedar Rapids, described Dustin Yancey as a devoted family man and soldier.

“He was very much a patriot, very much a military man,” Brian Yancey said. “He was a person who wanted to do what he could for his country.”

Several of Dustin Yancey’s family members remain in Cedar Rapids, including his grandparents and several cousins. He returned every few years to visit on holidays.

“We felt the loss very dramatically,” Brian Yancey said. “It’s unfortunate that it happened, but it’s what happens.”

Brian Yancey said Dustin’s funeral will be held in Cedar Rapids, although the details had not been set late Monday. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, his cousin said.

Cedar Rapids Mayor Paul Pate said that when it comes to remembering Yancey, his sacrifice should be honored regardless of where he was born.

“I think we take anybody who gives their life for our country very seriously,” Pate said.

Dustin Yancey deserves to be honored, Brian Yancey said, but Cedar Rapids should equally recognize all of its natives in Iraq.

“There’s a lot of men and women from this area that have given an awful lot for this effort,” he said. “I don’t think anything Dustin did or was involved in was anything more than anyone else did.”

Family, Army share stories of fallen soldier
A Cedar Rapids native, Specialist Dustin Yancey was killed in action by a bomb in Baghdad
By ERIN JORDAN
Courtesy of REGISTER IOWA CITY BUREAU
November 20, 2005

Cedar Rapids, Iowa. — As a boy, Dustin Allan Yancey promised to protect his family if his father died in Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s.

But Yancey, a third-generation military man, died before his father.

“You comforted your mother and told her if anything happened to me in Iraq you would take care of her the rest of her life,” said Sergant First Class Tim Yancey, starting to cry at the funeral for his son, Specialist Dustin Yancey, 22. “I know you made the ultimate sacrifice for your family and country. I’m very, very proud of you.”

Dustin Yancey, who lived in Cedar Rapids for the first eight years of his life before moving with his family to South Carolina in 1991, was killed Nov. 4 when a roadside bomb struck his Humvee in Baghdad, Iraq. More than 120 people came to his funeral Saturday at Brosh Chapel in Cedar Rapids.

“It’s hard on a parent to have a child die,” said Susan Marti of Cedar Rapids, who is friends with Yancey’s parents. Margaret Yancey and Orval Walton, Dustin Yancey’s grandparents, still live in Cedar Rapids, as do many aunts, uncles and cousins.

From across the globe, where the U.S. Army’s 26th Forward Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division still serves in Iraq, Yancey’s leaders sent kind words and funny stories about the soldier who liked to play hackey-sack and do magic tricks.

Yancey, part of an elite platoon that provided security to convoys, was nicknamed “The Most Advanced” for his driving and computer skills, wrote his commanding officer.

“He was the best driver in the U.S. Army, and if you didn’t know that, he would be glad to tell you,” the officer wrote. The leader said he tried to find sense in Yancey’s death and came up with this: “God needed someone to run one of his convoys in and around heaven.”

Yancey was born in Cedar Rapids in 1983 and attended Hiawatha and Garfield elementary schools before moving with his family in 1991 when the Army sent his father to Charleston, S.C.

Students from Garfield wrote letters to the soldier, thanking him for his service to America.

“I think you’re really brave and nice, even though I’ve never met you,” wrote a girl named Katheryne. There also were photographs of Yancey as a boy. In one, he’s dressed as a scarecrow for Halloween, and in another, he’s flanked by two girls at a high school dance.

Yancey graduated from Goose Creek High School near Charleston, S.C., in 2001 and enlisted in the Army in April 2003. His parents, Tim and Anita Yancey, and three of his four siblings still live in South Carolina. Yancey’s parents accepted their son’s Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals Saturday. The soldier’s body will be transported to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. for burial.

dayancey-valentines-day-2006

dayancey-valentine-day-2006-photo-01

dayancey-gravesite-photo-may-2008-001

Read our general and most popular articles

Leave a Comment