Capt. Humayun S. Khan, CLAS 2000, became the first U.Va. alumnus to die in Iraq on June 8 when two Jordanian suicide bombers detonated a car bomb in front of the forward supply base, Camp Warhorse, in Baquaba, Iraq, where Khan was stationed and assigned to perimeter protection.
On the morning he was killed, Khan spotted a vehicle with Jordanian plates and painted like a taxi traveling erratically through traffic. Khan told his men to "hit the dirt" and approached the car as he signaled for it to stop, causing the suicide bombers to detonate their explosives prematurely before actually entering the base. Khan was killed when the car exploded.
"If they had gotten to where they were trying to get to inside the base, they would have killed many more people," Neurology Prof. Jim Bennet said.
Bennet is Shaharyar Khan's -- Humayun's older brother -- Medical Scientist Training Program and Ph.D. mentor at the University. Shaharyar Khan graduated from the University in 1997.
Humayun Khan, who was a member of the Army ROTC and a psychology major at the University, became a second lieutenant after graduation and was at the end of his four-year tour, the majority of which he spent in Germany, when he was reassigned to Iraq and became a captain in February. Khan was supposed to return from abroad this past May, but his tour was extended until next February, Shaharyar Khan said.
"Humayun always said he had two purposes in Iraq," his brother said. "He was there to protect his soldiers and to benefit the people of Iraq."
A devout Muslim and fluent in Arabic, Khan interacted extensively with the local community and established a job program to help local Iraqis find work, Bennet said.
Khan employed over 300 Iraqis in a pilot program at Camp Warhorse as an alternative to the inexpensive contracted and imported labor typically employed. Khan's program, which he intended to reinforce the benefits of Americans' presence in Iraq, was the first of its kind in the country, Shaharyar Khan said.
"The Iraqis at the camp used to call him 'our captain,'" Shaharyar Kahn said.
At the time Khan was killed, he was welcoming Iraqi workers to the base for the morning.
"He wasn't supposed to be there until noon to do inspections, but it was where Iraqis would come in to work and he was welcoming them," Shaharyar Khan said.
Others agree that Khan's presence in Iraq was exceptional and unique.
"He was a valuable bridge-builder, someone who could cross cultures and present a different side of America, the good side of America," Bennet said. "The loss is tragic personally but it is also tragic symbolically for what he represented."
Khan received full honors at a military funeral held at Arlington Cemetery on June 16. He also received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for Valor from the Army.
"Humayun Khan represented the best of America, the best of the American Army and the best of Islam," Bennet said.
Khan's pilot program to employ Iraqis will continue in his memory, and the gate where he lost his life has been named in his honor, Shaharyar said.
The University's ROTC is planning on honoring Khan in a memorial service on Sept. 21, including the Air force, Navy, Marines and Army ROTC, said Lt. Col. Hampton Hite, chairman of the University's Army ROTC.
In addition, the new ROTC Cadet Center, now located on the corner of McCormick and Alderman Roads in the Astronomy building, will be named in honor of Khan.
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