Mother mourns Marine son's death

GIBSONVILLE — A day after learning that her youngest son had been killed in action in Afghanistan, Elaine Hager was still trying to make sense of the tragedy on Thursday.

"He was my baby," she said amid sobs, her face buried in her hands. "Right now, I still don’t believe it."

Sitting in the living room of the modest mobile home in Gibsonville where she, her husband, Donald Farren, and daughter, Faith Strang, live, she talked softly about her boy, Lance Cpl. Roger G.M. Hager, who was killed in Afghanistan Wednesday.

Two U.S. Marines came knocking on her door Wednesday night to give her the news, she said. She couldn’t remember exactly what they told her about the circumstances surrounding his death. All she remembers is that they told her that her son was dead.

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Ron Polidora, a public affairs officer with the Marine Corps Greensboro office, confirmed that Roger Hager died during Operation Enduring Freedom, though he could not provide details of how he died.

Farren said the Marines told them Wednesday that Hager was a back-seat passenger on a vehicle that hit a homemade bomb. He didn’t know where in Afghanistan the incident occurred.

Thursday morning, Elaine Hager received more details when she was told her son was killed in action at about 7:30 p.m. while conducting combat operations in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. He was one of five military personnel killed.

Hager was deployed about three months ago from his station at Camp Lejeune. He was attached to the Alpha Company, Special Forces Operations Area, 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division. He was 20 years old.

"He was just a kid," his mother said with tears in her eyes. "He was not old enough to drink. He was just too young."

She said she doesn’t understand why her son was in the field. She thought he was supposed to be working with weapons in a base there. She described him as a "happy-go lucky," funny young man who loved the outdoors and cared more about other people’s needs than his own.

"My boy was a clown," she said with a smile. "He made everybody laugh."

Her son was a slow learner in school, she said, but he liked computers and video games. He graduated from Western High School in 2008. She said he wasn’t a social person, but he was faithful to those he considered friends.

The last time she spoke with him on the phone was at the end of June. He was on guard duty and was proud of carrying a squad automatic weapon. He told his mother that he might have to stay a bit longer than expected. She was still expecting him to be back by Christmas.

"I was proud of him," she said. "He was my boy."

All three of Elaine Hager’s children are connected to the military. Her older son, Jeremy Scott, 22, is a Marine who recently came back from a tour of duty in Iraq.

Her daughter, Faith Strang, 18, is in the U.S. Army Reserve. Strang said she joined because she wanted to go to college. She will be going to Maryland in a couple of weeks to start advanced training.

Elaine Hager said her younger son joined the Marines to honor her father, Oscar Frederick Hebert Sr., who served in the Army.

"He did it for my dad. He wanted to be like him," she said. "(Roger) wanted to follow in the family’s footsteps and make his grandpa proud."

Unfortunately, she added, "He wasn’t able to see him."

She said her son graduated from advance training four days after his grandfather died.

If coping with the loss of a child wasn’t enough, Elaine Hager is terrified for Scott, her oldest son who is scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in the coming months. The idea of losing another son is unbearable, she said.

"I can’t lose another boy," she said. "He can’t do that to me again."

Polidora said his office will be working with the Hager family to arrange the funeral. He said Hager’s remains will be brought back to the United States within the next couple of days. Lowe Funeral and Crematory in Burlington will be handling the arrangements.

Roger Hager is the fourth Alamance County resident and the second from Gibsonville, who has died since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Alan D. Lam, 19, of Snow Camp, died during a training session in Iraq in April 2003. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Josh Flynn was killed Aug. 22, 2007, in Iraq while piloting a Black Hawk helicopter. He was the son of then-Gibsonville town manager, Deleno Flynn, and wife, Patsy.

More recently, Army Cpl. Pruitt Rainey, of Haw River, died July 13 2008 during an attack by Afghan insurgents at an isolated Army post near the Pakistani border. He was 22.

Hager’s children are connected to the military. Her older son, Jeremy Scott, 22, is a Marine who recently came back from a tour of duty in Iraq.deployed about three months ago from his station at Camp Lejeune. He was attached to the Alpha Company, Special Forces Operations Area, 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division. He was 20 years old.