Mother's final duty to soldier son — escort his body home

By Rachel Streitfeld CNN

PURCELLVILLE, Virginia (CNN) — When the Army flew home the body of Spc. Stephan Mace from Afghanistan, his mother climbed aboard a small jet with the flag-draped coffin for the last leg of his trip.

Vanessa Adelson would not let her 21-year-old son make his final journey home alone.

Mace and seven other soldiers were killed this month in a Taliban attack on their remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan, making it the deadliest battle for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since July 2008. 

All eight were assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colorado.

The October 3 battle saw Taliban insurgents at one point surging past the outer perimeter of Forward Operating Base Keating in Afghanistan’s Kamdesh District. The battle lasted about 12 hours, with the most ferocious fighting raging for about seven hours.

The base, in a valley, is surrounded by ridge lines where the insurgents were able to fire down at U.S. and Afghan troops. The facility had been scheduled to be closed within days, CNN later learned.

Three days after the deadly fight, Mace’s mother attended the Dignified Transfer of her son, then returned home with him from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Since May, Mace had been on his first deployment in Afghanistan, following a childhood dream of joining the Army. He planned to continue his career in service after his Army stint by joining the Department of Homeland Security or the CIA, his mother said.

Instead, he will be buried Monday in Arlington National Cemetery.

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