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Robert Wagner

(reprinted from Sun-Sentinel.com, August 6, 2004)

WEST PALM BEACH NATIVE KILLED IN IRAQ EX-MARINE WAS DOING CIVILIAN WORK FOR CONTRACTOR

"He was extremely courageous," said Billy Wagner, who made his brother [Bobby Wagner], an ex-Marine sergeant, best man at his May 29 wedding. "He wanted everyone to feel he was in a bunker tucked away and everything was going to be fine."

In Iraq, "he said he was having the time of his life," Billy Wagner said.

His family feared for him, but Robert "Bobby" Wagner always downplayed his perilous work in Iraq. The West Palm Beach native dodged death on his first visit in 2003 as an Army reservist doing house-to-house searches.

But on Sunday, back in Iraq as a civilian security officer protecting others, Wagner was killed when a bomb exploded as he helped lead a convoy moving materials for reconstruction, family members said.

The 29-year-old graduate of Forest Hill High School left his life in Newport News, Va., and a job supervising passenger screening for an airport, to head to Iraq for Rhode Island company Custer Battles. A big incentive to go back was the opportunity to re-team with his Army reserve buddies, family members said.

Wagner's job was to protect other private contractors involved with Iraq's rebuilding efforts, said Custer Battles spokeswoman Jennifer Martin. The company called his death "a grave loss."

Two close friends were also wounded. And two Iraqis were killed along with Wagner, according to family members.

"He was extremely courageous," said Billy Wagner, who made his brother Bobby, an ex-Marine sergeant, best man at his May 29 wedding. "He wanted everyone to feel he was in a bunker tucked away and everything was going to be fine." In Iraq, "he said he was having the time of his life," Billy Wagner said.

Martin said Bobby Wagner was killed by an "improvised explosive device" that struck his convoy. He died just two months after his June 5 departure for Iraq. He leaves behind his 5-year-old son, Ty, and his wife, Kristie, in Gloucester, Va.

Vicki Wagner recalled her stepson as someone who valued Marine morals highly, who knew how to hug people and mean it, who doted on his young son, who liked to surf.

"He had a heart of gold," said his father, Bruce Wagner, who lives in West Palm Beach. "You'd never know he was a Marine if you didn't see the haircut. He was easy going. He'd do anything for anybody."

Wagner's body was scheduled to arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Thursday and burial is set for West Palm Beach. Memorial services, being handled by Dorsey Funeral Home in Lake Worth, have not yet been scheduled, Bruce Wagner said.

After graduating high school in 1993, Bobby Wagner enlisted for eight years in the Marines with a group of school chums, Billy Wagner said. He received anti-terrorism training and later focused on aircraft mechanics.

The year he stepped out, 2001, he enlisted in the Army Reserves, which sent him to Iraq for most of last year, where he served with a military police company, his father said. He liked to tell family he was "bulletproof," said his mother, June Wagner, of Jacksonville.

"He was proud to go. He was a wonderful soldier," she said.

In lieu of flowers, family members are asking people to donate to a college fund for Bobby Wagner's son. Mail checks to Account No. 690514153 at Fidelity Investments, P.O. Box 770002, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45277.

 

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(Copyright 2004 by the Sun-Sentinel)