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Brooke Point graduate dies in Iraq explosion

Brooke Point High School graduate Jeff Graham dies in Iraqi explosion, after he warns the rest of his platoon about the bomb.

By CATHY DYSON and BRIAN BAER

Date published: 2/24/2004

Brooke Point graduate dies in Iraq explosion

People who knew Jeff Graham aren't the least bit surprised the Brooke Point High School graduate is being heralded as a hero.

The 24-year-old second lieutenant was killed in central Iraq last week, after a bomb exploded while he led his platoon on foot patrol.

The group--18 soldiers, an Iraqi translator and an Iraqi policeman--were crossing a bridge, about 50 miles west of Baghdad on Thursday. Graham spotted an explosive taped to a guardrail, said his aunt, Sandra Bush of Frankfort, Ky.

He put up his hand to stop the others, who were walking in single file, and looked back to check on them. The bomb detonated, killing Graham, another soldier and the two Iraqis.

His warning probably saved the lives of several others, his aunt said. Army officials who contacted the family last week said Jeffrey Graham was a hero, according to a story in the Courier-Journal of Louisville.

"That's just like him, that really is," said Kathy Hilleary, a Brooke Point guidance counselor. "He was always that kind of kid."

The 1998 graduate of Brooke Point also was "an awesome guy, all-around, probably one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet," said classmate Melissa Maddox of Stafford.

In summer 1997, she and Jeff and several other students and teachers toured Europe. Jeff had the kind of personality to make friends with anyone he met, she said.

"He was just very considerate, and when you were talking to him, you were important, and you could tell that," Maddox said.

Jeff played golf at Brooke Point, and Benjamin Forbes, the assistant coach at the time, remembers that Jeff "always had a great calming sense about him." He was a good golfer, but he spent as much time cheering for others as working on his own game.

"He'd always promote everyone on the team," Forbes said, "and he encouraged them in every way."

Like others associated with the school, Maddox can't imagine what the family is going through. This is the second time tragedy has struck in eight months.

In June, Jeff's 21-year-old brother, Kevin, hanged himself. He suffered from depression, and had stopped taking his antidepressant medicine because he didn't want it to show up on an Army medical exam, Bush said.

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Date published: 2/24/2004