HUMAYUN KHAN
People who knew 2000 College graduate Humayun Khan through the Army say his heroic death is in line with his theory of service.
Captain Khan was killed in Iraq on June 8 when Jordanian suicide bombers detonated a car bomb in front of the forward supply base where Khan was stationed.
Khan was welcoming Iraqi workers to the base in the morning when he noticed a suspicious car approaching. He ordered his men to get to safety and then approached the vehicle, signaling it to stop. The bombers detonated the explosives, killing themselves and Khan. Had the car entered the base, the causalities would have been high.
"He died a hero, preventing the deaths of many other people with his actions," retired Lt. Col. John Dean said. "I can just picture him doing that very selfless service."
Dean was the Army ROTC commanding officer while Khan was in the program at the University. He retired in 2000, the same year Khan graduated and was commissioned.
"My impression of him was that he was an excellent young man who was very motivated and cared a lot about other people," Dean said. "He was willing to bend over backwards to do what he could for others."
Dean said Khan was an excellent cadet, and remembers him as excited about going into service and serving his country.
Army reservist Eston Melton, a 2002 College graduate, remembers Khan as a consummate soldier.
"He just really struck me as a really well-grounded fellow. He had a great sense of humor," Melton said. "He knew how to be all business and professional, but when it was time to relax he was able to make that change."
Melton said Khan's heroic actions prove that American military officer training is top-notch, despite recent events such at the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.
"Khan put himself on the line for his men -- something that all of us officers are trained to do but all of us wonder if we'll be able to do it," Melton said. "Khan did exactly what he was trained to do. All of us appreciate what he did."
1998 College graduate Mark Rogers, who knew Khan through the ROTC program, agreed that Khan's actions were consistent with his training and his personality.
"I think it's underappreciated how good the program at U.Va. is," Rogers said. "There's not only this idea of serving in the military, but when you're serving in the military to think of others first. So it rings true that his actions that day would be representative of that."
Rogers met Khan at the University but got to know him better when both were later stationed at Fort Knox.
"He was a very good cadet," Rogers said. "Lying in a puddle at three o'clock in the morning fending off an imaginary enemy, he always had a really good attitude about everything. Something so important in the service is to lead the way enthusiastically, because that's how people are going to follow you."
Rogers said Khan struggled with his call to service.
"It was something he thought he ought to do, but he struggled a little bit because there were other things he wanted to do with his life," Rogers said. "But it was something that was very important to him."
Rogers said Khan wanted to go to law school and become an attorney like his father.
Mary Byrd, secretary to the University's Army ROTC, remembered Khan as conscientious and dedicated to the program.
"I'm not surprised that he stepped forward to defend his country and that the safety of his men would be first in his heart," Byrd said.
Byrd noted that Khan made a particularly relevant statement upon leaving the program.
Each year, Byrd creates a memento board made of statements from and pictures of each graduate as they are commissioned.
Khan's statement focused on the human side of the army, foreshadowing the sacrifice he would make for fellow personnel.
"What I found most valuable in ROTC is people. I enjoyed working with our cadets. My source of happiness is friendship. I've found success not a harbor, but a voyage, with its own perils of the spirit. The game of life is to achieve that which you set out to do. There is always danger of failing. The lesson that most of us on this voyage never learn, but can never quite forget, is that to win is sometimes to lose. Don't lose sight of your humanness. The Army is about people," Khan wrote.
Dean said Khan will be commemorated in Iraq for that exact attitude toward his fellow man.
According to Khan's father, a gate in Iraq will be named after Khan.
"Humayun created a program over there to reach out to Iraqi children," Dean said. "They didn't call him 'the captain,' they called him 'our captain.' His commanding officer said he had never seen as many Iraqis come out to remember a U.S. soldier as they did for 'our captain.' They will name a gate for what he did to save other lives"
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