Location: 2664
Date: 9/11/2006
Rank: Specialist
Branch: U.S. Army
Operation: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Army Spc. Harley D. Andrews died on September 11, 2006 of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations. He was assigned to 54th Engineer Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, Warner Barracks, Bamberg, Germany.
His mother, Kimberly Barlow of Portland, Oregon said she was told by the Army that her son was killed when the bomb exploded through the floor of the vehicle he was driving. “I know that he went out and he looked for the bombs, but he made is sound like it wasn’t a big deal. The more I’m learning, he had a very dangerous job. There’s a lot of things he joked off to protect me – he told his brother a lot more than he told me.” Barlow remembered her son as stubborn, determined and headstrong. “He was very outgoing, he was very outdoorsy, but he always had to push to the next limit. He was a good kid.” Barlow said she did not object when he decided to join the Army. “I’m very proud of my son,” she said. “Do I think it was the right thing for him at the time? Yes. You just never think anything will happen to your kid. Did he want to be there? No, but who does? Was he disillusioned? No. But he couldn’t wait to get out – none of them can.”
Harley married his wife, Halley a few months after enlisting; their son, Ayden Dean Andrews, was born in June 2005. “He actually joined the Army because he wanted to start his life good for his family,” said Kevin Bryant, his best friend since karate class in fourth grade. “He thought that was probably his best bet for getting his life rolling.”
“Such a good father,” his wife Halley said. “Oh my gosh, every time wed’ talk on the phone, it was, ‘How’s my son doing,’ it was 100% Ayden. He was going to build me a house and start up his own construction business. There were just so many things he wanted to do. He wanted to retire early so he and Ayden could go hunting and fishing together.”
In addition to his wife, son, mother, and stepfather, Andrews is survived by his father, Ken C. Phillips of Boise, Idaho; and his brother, Michael, 24, of Portland, Ore.