MANSFIELD, OHIO 20-year-old Army gunner loses life in attack in Iraq

The father wonders what his son could have been.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The father of an Ohio soldier killed late last week in Iraq had just received a letter from his son that urged the family not to worry.
The letter arrived April 5, days before Spc. Allen "A.J." Vandayburg of Mansfield was killed when his convoy was attacked by insurgents.
"He said, 'I'm not dying,'" his father, Allen Vandayburg, said early today. "He knew I was worried about him, but he was the one worried about me."
Under attack
A.J. Vandayburg, a gunner on a Bradley fighting vehicle, was killed when his 1st Infantry Division convoy was attacked, his father said. The father wasn't sure of the exact circumstances of the 20-year-old's death.
The father and son spent 30 minutes e-mailing back and forth Tuesday, the only time they happened to be online simultaneously since the son went to Iraq. A.J. again told his father "there weren't any bullets flying and not to worry."
But when a representative of the Army and officers from the Mansfield Police Department showed up at the family's Mansfield home Saturday morning, Allen Vandayburg didn't have to ask why.
"I knew it wasn't good," he said. "I didn't want it to be when I saw them. But I knew."
His body will be taken to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before being returned to Mansfield, about 65 miles north of Columbus.
Allen Vandayburg said he expects to get more details today about the attack and find out exactly when his son's body will return.
What could have been
But it's what he'll never know that will bother the 25-year veteran of the Mansfield Police Department.
"He was the kind of kid who could walk into a room and light it up," the elder Vandayburg said. "I'm just going to remember him for what he was and what he could have been.
"He was thinking about being a police officer, maybe some other things. You have your whole life ahead of you."
A.J. Vandayburg played golf and baseball at Mansfield High School -- also his father's alma mater -- before graduating in June 2001. The next month he signed on for a three-year stint in the Army, serving in Kosovo and Germany before being deployed to Kuwait and on to Iraq. He had been in Iraq about two weeks, his father said.
"He was due to get out in July but he knew he wouldn't," Allen Vandayburg said. "He expected to get leave to come home in July or August."
Family trip
Although his father had offered him a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate his 21st birthday in August, A.J. was leaning toward keeping the family's Myrtle Beach tradition alive.
Allen Vandayburg said the annual trip was the highlight of the summer. A.J.'s mom, Chantil, and 11-year-old sister, Taylor, would have gone along, and they would have swung through Virginia to see his brother, Chris. Chris Vandayburg is a Marine stationed at Quantico, Va., who now hopes to be part of the detail that brings A.J.'s body home from Delaware.
"We'll stay here and wait on him," Allen Vandayburg said.