Soldier killed in chopper attack was on way home for Pa. funeral

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- One of 16 soldiers killed when their helicopter was struck by a missile and crashed in Iraq was on his way home to attend the funeral of his mother, relatives said.
Family members said Ernest Bucklew, 33, was heading home on emergency leave Sunday when he was killed during the deadliest day for American troops in the six-month-old occupation of Iraq.
"His mother and dad prayed every night that he would come home safe," said Jack Smith, of Point Marion, Bucklew's uncle.
Ernest Bucklew, the son of a coal miner, grew up in Fayette County, south of Pittsburgh. At 13, his family moved to West Virginia, where he graduated from high school and then joined the National Guard, Smith said.
Bucklew had recently e-mailed his uncle, saying he wouldn't go on a 10-day leave because it would be too hard on his two sons, Smith said.
Plans change
But plans changed on Friday, the day his mother died while driving home from work. Mary Ellen Bucklew, 57, died when an aneurysm in one of the arteries leading to her heart burst.
Bucklew and his wife, Barbara, made last-minute plans with the American Red Cross. Ernest Bucklew planned to return to Colorado and then travel to Pennsylvania for the funeral.
"Two deaths in three days is hard. I'm scared to death for my brother-in-law," Smith said.
Bucklew joined the Army about five years ago and was stationed in Georgia before Colorado, Smith said.