Soldier returns with friend's coffin

Published July 13, 2004
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer

For two long days, Spc. Jesse Hensel sat in a chair next to his best friend in a military cargo plane on their way home to Ohio from Iraq.

Occasionally, Hensel would talk to his buddy.

Periodically, he would sleep next to him on the floor. At other times, he would sit in silence.

In the most difficult moments, though, he cried.

The Canal Fulton 23-year-old was bringing back the flag-draped coffin of his bunkmate and comrade, Sgt. Michael Barkey, 22, of Lawrence Township, who died July 7, 2004, in a truck accident in Iraq.

``He was everything I want to be as a person and a soldier,'' Hensel said.

Hensel and Barkey were part of the Akron-based Ohio Army National Guard's 1484th Transportation Company.

Because Hensel was so close to Barkey, the unit's commander, Capt. Curtis Brown, asked him to accompany his friend's body back to Ohio.

Hensel and Barkey both wanted to become firefighters. Barkey had completed a degree at the University of Akron; Hensel was attending Hocking College to get a fire science technology degree when his unit was called to active duty.

In Iraq, when they weren't working, they spent time in their room or lifting weights.

``We were always together,'' Hensel said.

Barkey worked as a gunner; he was on a truck that crashed and was killed instantly.

On the night his friend was killed, Hensel was working as a guard at the base where the 1484th is headquartered.

He said the commander and first sergeant called him to a meeting during his shift July 7 to break the news.

``It was a devastating blow,'' he said.

Hensel said Barkey was the kind of soldier who could bring people up when they were down.

``He was a fantastic person,'' Hensel said. ``He was my strength over there.''

He said that like two brothers, they argued over everything except two things.

Hensel laughed when he said that Barkey did not dispute that ``I was better looking.''

And they did not argue that Barkey was the better dancer.

While in Iraq, they did talk about the possibility that one or both might not go home.

Hensel said the two friends told each other, ``If something ever happened to you, I don't know what I'll do.''

But they believed everything would be OK as long as they stuck together, Hensel said.

``Iraq is a pretty lonely place,'' Hensel said.

That is why deep friendships in the unit are critical, he said.

``All we have is each other,'' he said.

Hensel, a 1999 graduate of Northwest High School, said he left with his friend's body about 24 hours after Barkey was killed.

The plane contained the coffins of five other Americans who died in Iraq.

Hensel was the only soldier accompanying any of them.

He said there were a few layovers and plane changes, and he helped carry the coffin off the plane during the layovers.

``I talked to him a lot on the way over,'' he said.

He talked about things that happened in Iraq while they were together.

And he told Barkey how much he will miss him.

``I felt pretty honored and I am happy to be here for his family,'' Hensel said.

Hensel's mother, Karen Nitzel, said that when she heard that Barkey had died, ``it was like somebody hit me in the chest.''

She said she is proud of her son and all the soldiers, and is sad for the Barkeys.

And she said she somehow feels a kind of guilt because Hensel came home safe and Barkey didn't.

``He has had to grow up really fast,'' she said.

Hensel will be home on emergency leave for two weeks. Then he will return to his unit.

``There are a lot of people back there who really love me and who I love,''he said.

But the trip back will not be the same.

``Now I will have to go back without him,'' Hensel said.