02/20/2007

Cheboygan Co. man killed while on duty in Iraq

BY SHERI McWHIRTER

sherimcwhirter@hotmail.com

Paton

INDIAN RIVER — Sniper fire killed a local solider in Iraq.

U.S. Army Pfc. Justin Paton, 24, died Saturday while on duty in the war zone, 40 miles north of Baghdad. His parents are Donald and Shelley Paton of Alanson, although they live in Cheboygan County, about halfway between Alanson and Indian River.

"I want everyone to know how wonderful he was,” said Stormy Dickinson, his sister. "We've lost someone so important to us, so full of life.”

Justin Paton graduated in 2000 from Inland Lakes High School in Indian River and played football his senior year. He was deployed to Iraq in October as a member of the Army's 1st Calvary Division, Delta Company.

Dickinson said her "baby brother” wanted to be a doctor and joined the Army for benefits he would receive under the GI Bill of Rights, which would have paid for his education after he was discharged.

Paton loved to go "two-tracking” and was an avid kayaker.

"He carried his kayak on his car and if he saw something interesting, he'd go right for it,” Dickinson said.

Paton volunteered and then was hired as a patient care technician at Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey before he joined the military.

"He was a fine young man, bright, honest and outgoing,” said Don Killingbeck, principal of Inland Lakes High School and Justin's former social studies and driver's education teacher. "He was all heart and he wanted to help people. He wanted to make a difference in people's lives and he believed in what he was doing in Iraq.”

Paton corresponded with third-grade students at his former school, his nephew's class. Those children were somber on Monday, Killingbeck said.

"They don't really understand what happened,” he said. "This is the first time we've lowered the flag for one of our own sons.”

In a recent e-mail message Paton sent to a friend from the war zone, he talked about the joy of receiving letters from the schoolchildren and also his desire to come home.

"I am glad I am here. I would like to be home. But like I said before, if an American back home could look into the eyes of a child here, see the pain and horrors that they see daily, maybe their outlook would change,” he wrote.

Paton was a member of Walloon Lake Community Church, where no special services have yet been planned.

Paton also had a brother, Adam Parkey of Alanson, plus a large extended family.

A full military funeral will take place when Paton's body returns to northern Michigan.