Slain soldier is brought back to Texas

Army Lt. Col. Todd Clark was born in Albany, N.Y., but came home to Texas for good Wednesday.

Shot dead over the weekend by an Afghan National Army soldier, he was flown to San Antonio International Airport. There, a white-gloved U.S. Army North honor guard slowly took his flag-draped casket off a jetliner to a hearse as GIs and a Southwest Airlines pilot saluted. A ground crewman, among about eight workers in all, held his right hand over his heart.

?There was silence on that tarmac and not one Southwest employee was moving,? said Lt. Col. Tim Beninato, an Army North spokesman. ?And some put their hands over their chests, their hats were off and there was complete respect and reverence.?

Clark was a Texas A&M University graduate. His family decided to bring his body to San Antonio because the school was a big part of his life, Beninato said. On Friday, Clark will be buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

Clark, 40, of Evans Mills, N.Y., near Fort Drum, was on his second tour in Afghanistan after surviving a roadside bomb attack there in July 2010, the Albany Times-Union reported.

He was an instructor with the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan and already held a Purple Heart when he was killed Saturday by one of the men he was training.

Wearing dress blue service uniforms, the Army North contingent was led by its deputy commander for support.

?On behalf of Lt. Gen. (William) Caldwell (IV) and the Army family at Fort Sam Houston, we came to honor Todd's memory and service to our great nation,? Maj. Gen. Adolph McQueen said. Caldwell is Army North's commander.

The Times-Union quoted Clark's father as saying his son had served three tours in Iraq and that he recovered from the roadside bomb attack at a Warrior Transition unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

?The worst day of my life,? he told the paper.

?My son, my hero, pray for us,? his mother, Kathleen Clark, wrote on Facebook.

He was a father of two.

sigc@express-news.net

Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Slain-soldier-is-brought-back-to-Texas-4609540.php

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