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Chattanooga: Soldier laid to rest

By: Emily Bregel
(Contact)

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Fellow soldiers knew U.S. Army Capt. Darrick Wright not only for his engineering and leadership skills, but also for his kindness, faith and 100-watt smile.

“He lit up a room,” said Lt. Jeremy Tallent, who worked for a year under Capt. Wright’s command when the fallen soldier was company commander of the 844th Engineers Battalion’s B Company, located in Chattanooga. “He was a big old teddy bear with a big old smile. ... I know he’s in a lot better place right now.”

Under gray skies and threatening rain, hundreds of mourners on Saturday laid to rest the former Chattanoogan who died in Iraq this month.

Capt. Wright, 37, was buried at the Chattanooga National Cemetery after a funeral service at the North Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home.

Capt. Wright died of noncombat-related cardiac arrest on Sept. 17 in Baghdad. He was deployed in February, and at the time of his death he was a member of the 926th Engineer Brigade, headquartered in Montgomery, Ala., Army officers said. Capt. Wright’s civilian job was working as an analyst with the Tennessee Valley Authority in Nashville.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga graduate was a “skill-rich Army reserve soldier,” said Lt. Col. Adam S. Roth, former battalion commander of Capt. Wright.

Lt. Col. Roth said he spoke to Capt. Wright by phone the day before he died. During that conversation, Capt. Wright expressed his excitement to return home for the birth of his son, Trevor Allen, expected in November, and his pride in the work he was doing in Baghdad’s Sadr City, Lt. Col. Roth said.

After the 11:30 a.m. funeral, a procession of vehicles at least two miles long drove to Chattanooga National Cemetery on Bailey Avenue. Army officers led a burial ceremony with full military honors, including flag presentations and a rifle volley.

At the end of the ceremony/ officers released four doves, symbolizing the Holy Trinity joined by Capt. Wright as the fourth dove, said Capt. Michael Beach, the chaplain who led the ceremony.

“He was a great soldier,” Capt. Beach said after the service. “He had the skills, the knowledge, the expertise, everything required for soldiering. But he was an all-around good guy, and that made a world of difference. ... Everybody you talk to, they knew that he knew his job and they trusted him — he’s a great leader. But they also trusted him personally.”

During the flag presentation Sgt. Maj. Brian Hart delivered the first flag to Capt. Wright’s widow, the former Katina Nicole Baker-Zacher. The young soldier, who has served abroad with Capt. Wright, spoke quietly to Mrs. Wright as he pressed the folded flag into her hands, his face distorted by tears and grief.

Two more flags were then delivered to Capt. Wright’s mother, Gloria Wright of Tullahoma, Tenn., and his birth mother, Loretta Tankersley, also of Tullahoma.

Army soldiers presented the relatives with Capt. Wright’s Bronze Star medal for meritorious service in Iraq.

Wynn Liles, of Montgomery, Ala., said her husband is now serving in Iraq in Capt. Wright’s brigade. She and a number of other wives of soldiers who were serving in Iraq with Capt. Wright attended the burial to offer support for the soldier’s wife, though they didn’t know Capt. Wright personally, she said.

“We hope to give her support. That’s all we can do. I can’t imagine what she’s going through,” Mrs. Liles said.

As the mourners left the cemetery Saturday afternoon, Brig. Gen. William Buckle, deputy commander of the 412th Engineer Command that oversees Capt. Wright’s brigade, commented on the outpouring of support for Capt. Wright’s family and his memory.

During the funeral service, he recalled, Capt. Wright’s fellow officers “talked about how he was the heartbeat of the unit.”

“This man was not only a great American, but a great human being,” he said.

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