Spc. Paul Andersen, R.I.P.

Name: Army Spc. Paul E. Andersen

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Age: 49

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From: Dowagiac, Mich.

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Assigned to the 855th Quartermaster Company, U.S. Army Reserve, South Bend, Ind.

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Incident: Army Spc. Paul E. Andersen died Oct. 1 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his camp using indirect fire.

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Died: October 01, 2009

SOUTH BEND -- Nothing was more important to Spc. Paul Andersen than the U.S. Army and his family, and his wife, Linda, said she loved him for being able to separate them.

"He never told me what was going on," Linda Andersen said. "He never told me what he was training for."

This way, she would never worry. But she knew that her husband loved the Army and was proud of his 24 years of service, and that he was scheduled to come back from Iraq in a few weeks.

Paul E. Andersen, 49, of the 855th Quartermaster Company, was killed Oct. 1 in Baghdad by indirect gunfire in an attack by enemy forces, according to the Department of Defense. His body arrived at the South Bend Regional Airport Thursday, where a ceremony took place before police escorted a procession to a funeral home.

Linda Andersen said the service was beautiful, and during the procession, people came out of bars and restaurants and got out of their cars to stand and salute him.

"I think Paul deserves it," Linda Andersen said.

Linda Andersen said her son, Thomas Klempay, went to Dover (Del.) Air Force Base to help bring his stepfather home and returned with him on the plane.

Linda Andersen said she has received phone calls and e-mails from people with Army ties expressing their support and appreciation for her husband's sacrifice.

Amberly Leer, an Elkhart resident whose husband is in the same unit, said the news hit hard within the unit. Leer said she is keeping Paul Andersen's family in her prayers. She said she has talked to her husband since Andersen's death.

"Obviously everybody's shooken up, he said. They're getting better. They're just ready to come home," Leer said. "He said it was very scary, and not expected."

Paul Andersen's unit provided laundry and bath services, Linda Andersen said.

Paul and Linda Andersen married five years ago. Linda Andersen said he had just returned from a tour, and they talked about Army life. Not long after, he proposed. Linda Andersen said he had to ask her three times, because she wasn't sure what he had said.

"He said, 'I'm going to make you an Army wife, one way or another,'" she said. "And he did. I'm proud to be one, too."