Jared Hubbard
Nathan Hubbard
(Both images from Vets for Freedom)
This is not a new story, nor one that has never happened before. But I was browsing the Vets for Freedom website and stumbled upon the heart-wrenching story of a family that lost two boys in Iraq and felt compelled to share it with you.
There were three Hubbard boys: Jared, who joined with his best friend Jeremiah Baro, joined first. The two were inseparable – they grew up together in Clovis, California, where they were both on the Buchanan High School wrestling team. They went to boot camp together and served side-by-side in Iraq. In 2004, they were operating as a two-man sniper team when they were killed by an IED. His mother told ABC news, “[Jared and Jeremiah] went to school together. And they went in the Marines together. And they went to war together. And they died together. And now, we’ll bury them together.” Their memorial service was held on Veterans Day in 2004.
Jared’s two brothers, Nathan and Jason, joined nine months later. “They said they were, ‘going to finish the job Jared started.’ Together they enlisted, knowing they would be immediately deployed to Iraq.” (Vets for Freedom)
In August of 2007, the helicopter carrrying Nathan and 13 other soldiers crashed in Iraq, killing all aboard.
Jason, the surviving brother, escorted his younger brother home.
I grew up in a family of four boys, and cannot fathom the sadness of losing two of them. The Hubbards deaths were tragic – there is no other way to describe them – but I hope Jason and his family can take some solace in knowing that they died in pursuit of the most honorable of quests – bringing freedom and defending the liberty of the world’s oppressed. They died as heroes, and in the end, there is no more dignified postscript to a young life.
The Hubbard boys are our heroes of the week.
