Iraq war hits Pike again

Dingman - War on the other side of the world reached out and struck home again Saturday. On March 3 an “improvised explosive device” took the life of 21-year-old Army Specialist Ashly Lynn Moyer while she patrolled the streets of Baghdad as a driver in an armored miltary police convoy. Moyer, an Emmaus resident, was the daughter of Jane Drumheller of Dingman and the sister of Tyler Clark, 12, and Kyle Clark, 10. While she was home last fall, Moyer spoke to students in Kyle’s fifth-grade class at Shohola Elementary School. A photo from the visit shows the pride beaming in the face of her youngest brother. Moyer served with the 630th Military Police Company, based in Bamburg, Germany. Based on the account from Moyer’s commanding officer, Drumheller said her daughter was driving the second of five vehicles in the convoy Saturday. The first vehicle, driven by Moyer’s best friend in the unit, passed over the buried bomb but exploded as Moyer’s vehicle reached it. The explosive detonated the vehicle’s gas tank, instantly killing Moyer, her Sergeant, Michael Peek, 23, of Chesapeake, Va., and the crew’s gunner, Sgt. Brandon Parr, 25, of West Valley, Utah. Drumheller said she was told an Army helicopter pursued and destroyed a car, which they believed contained four insurgents who detonated the device remotely. The Morning Call of Allentown reported that among the soldiers who responded to the bombing was Moyer’s boyfriend, Jake Wells, who tried to rescue her but was turned back by the flames and rounds of ammunition exploding in the heat. “That’s what’s most heart-wrenching to me,” said Moyer’s father, Michael Moyer of Lower Macungie Township, a former Marine. “Can you imagine that? The girl you love is in there, and not being able to do anything,” he told The Call. He continued, “They were coming home in June and planning two weeks in Pennsylvania and two weeks in Texas, where Jake is from. They were coming here because he was going to ask me for her hand in marriage.” The Defense Department confirmed the death of the three soldiers in a brief press release late Wednesday. The statement named all three as sergeants. Drumheller said Moyer was recently notified of her promotion to sergeant, “It wasn’t just something they did posthumously. She earned it ... She was proud of her service and of the military,” her mother said.” Despite her loyalty to the service, Drumheller said, her daughter questioned the war in her letters. “I think she was conflicted about it. Maybe she wrote to me on the bad days,” he mother said. The Call reported that Moyer’s father said his daughter believed strongly in the American cause and had recently extended her enlistment for a year. For her part, Drumheller said she feels the war is senseless. “I don’t understand why we’re over there so long. Now we’re regressing, not moving forward.” She said she was notified by the Army late Saturday night. “I was just numb. I’m still numb,” she said Wednesday. Nonetheless, she welcomed the opportunity to see that her daughter’s sacrifice was recognized, “I want people to know, for the sake of my boys,” she said. Following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, both Marine veterans, Moyer joined the Army Reserves through the delayed enlistment program while still attending Emmaus High School. After graduation, she joined the Army Military Police, where she first guarded enemy combatants from the war in Afghanistan, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A year later, she was stationed in Germany for about five months before shipping out to Iraq. A Celebration of Life gathering is planned in Emmaus on March 10. Friends wishing to attend can call 610-965-2532 for details and travel directions. Moyer will be buried March 16 at Arlington National Cemetery. At Shohola Elementary School, Principal Peg Schaffer remembered Moyer from her visit last fall. “She was a personable, nice young woman, obviously dedicated to her assignment.” This school year, Shohola students have taken on the daily responsibility of raising and lowering the school’s flag, folding and handling it properly, Schaffer said. Schaffer said Kyle Clark is “an exception boy.” Before his sister’s death Kyle had pretty much “made it his mission,” to care for the flag, she added. He kept his routine last Monday morning and she said it was touching to see him, “bright and early, out with the flag, even after everything that had happened.” Marine Lance Corporal Jacob Walter Beisel of Lackawaxen died in Iraq fighting on March 31 of last year. First Lt. Louis Allen of Dingman Township was killed in Iraq on June 7, 2005.