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Eason was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Divison, Baumholder, Germany. He was working with the MITT team when the vehicle he was riding in struck the IED. According to his friends and family, he loved his job and he loved his country and he was doing something he believed in.
Mourning his death are his parents Martin and Susan Boedeker of Lovelady, brother James "Big" Eason; wife Johnna Eason; children Courtney, 10, Matthew, 5, and Logan, 22 months. His father Mack Eason preceded him in death.
Just hours before his death, Spc. Eason spoke with his wife and parents. He was counting the days until he would be home, according to his mother. After the long-distance telephone call, his mother announced to her cafe customers that her son would leave Iraq in four more days and in only 36 days, he would be home in Lovelady.
The next day, the U.S. Army detail came to "Mom's Cafe" to relay the sad news. Spc. Eason loved his hometown and planned on moving back with his wife and children when he got out of the Army, probably in June 2007. He had been stationed in Iraq since the end of November 2005.
Born April 24, 1977, Eason attended Lovelady schools and graduated from Lovelady High School in 1996. He played football as #74 for four years, participated in track for three years, lifted weights for three years and was a Regional Qualifer. According to Norma Dell Jones, he was an outstanding high school athlete, but the sports he loved best were football and weightlifting. He was on the winning Lovelady Power Lifting Team coached by Berlyn Wedgeworth. When Coach Wedgeworth was told the news, he wept and could not continue the conversation.
Eason worked hard at his studies and besides athletics, he participated in FFA. He was named FFA Greenhand and won the Farmskills Award.
He was a fireman with the Lovelady Volunteer Fire Department and the LVFD is asking everyone in Houston County to lower flags to half staff until their friend is laid to rest. He was employed as a crane operator before entering the military
As word has gotten out about Eason, high school and boyhood friends, teachers, and others have joined to offer words of comfort for the hometown hero's family.
One lament comes from a friend who is stationed in Kuwait, U.S. Army Spc. Quenton D. Watson. He writes: "To the Family of Specialist Carl A. Eason:
Words will never express the loss of a soldier, warrior, son, brother or friend. Spec. Eason was a person that put his life on the line for his country. He stood for freedom and fought till the end.
He gave his heart to his family and friends and gave his life for the American people. A son is now gone, and his shoes can not be filled by another American.
My heart goes out to you. Today I mourn the loss of a fallen comrade. My prayer is that God will ease your pain throughout this difficult time. Remember Car, not just as a son, but as an American hero.
The Soldier's Creed states, 'I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.'
'Greater love has no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends' (John 15:13).
Carl Eason will be missed."
Eason is believed to be the first Houston County member of the military to lose his life in Iraq.
Funeral arrangements are pending but will be under the direction of Callaway-Allee Funeral Home in Crockett.
Norman Dell Jones has offered the Old Gym in Lovelady for burial services.
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The U.S. Department of Defense announced Tuesday the death of a
soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, Spc. Carl A.
Eason, 29, of Lovelady died Oct. 23 in Baghadad, Iraq from injuries
suffered when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated near
his vehicle.