Friends and soldiers remembered Spc. Jeremy R. Gullett, shown here with wife Janeth in 2007, at a memorial service at Camp Casey on Friday. Gullett and Staff Sgt. Kevin C. Roberts died May 7 when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in Afghanistan. (Courtesy of Joseph Richburg)
CAMP CASEY, South Korea — Spc. Jeremy Gullett couldn’t get enough of Korean corn dogs, of all things.
When his friends brought him a box of them for his birthday last year, Gullett laughed so hard he cried.
"It’s little things like that," Spc. Tyler Bennett said at a memorial for Gullett on Friday at Camp Casey. "Those are the things that are coming back to me now."
Gullett, 22, of Greenup, Ky., and Staff Sgt. Kevin C. Roberts, 25, of Farmington, N.M., died May 7 after a roadside bomb blast while traveling in the Sabari district in the northern part of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan.
Both were serving with units in the 4th Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.
The 101st remembered Gullett at its own ceremony, but his friends in the 2nd Infantry Division gathered at the Thunder Inn dining facility to memorialize him as well.
Gullett was stationed in South Korea for more than two years, his friends said.
He left in July after serving with the headquarters company of 1st Battalion, 38th Field Artillery.
"He was like a brother to me," said Sgt. Joseph Richburg of the 70th Brigade Support Battalion. "When I heard he died, it really shook me up. Nothing has ever hit that close to home."
Gullett’s survivors include his wife, Janeth, whom he met in South Korea. He also had a 1-year-old daughter, Katie, and was trying to adopt 6-year-old Kaye from the Philippines.
Gullett’s friends and supervisors praised him as a warm-hearted man who never hesitated to help others.
"He always took care of the things he needed to do," said Capt. Phillip Ealy, Gullett’s former commander. "He was a good soldier and, more importantly, he was a great person."
Richburg wants to dedicate a plaque inside the Thunder Inn to all servicemembers who have died following their change of station from South Korea. To help or submit names for engraving on the plaque, call Richburg at 010-8098-9185 or DSN 730-2293.
"Hopefully, when I leave, the tradition will keep going on," Richburg said.
It’s something Gullett likely would have approved of, based on his own words.
Gullett’s MySpace page lists his heroes as his wife, his father "and all the military members who gave their lives for our country."
