Pfc. Chassan S. Henry

Soldier loved in neighborhood is killed in Iraq

Friends say Chassan Henry was funny, generous and respectful.

A 20-year-old soldier from suburban West Palm Beach was killed Friday by an explosion in Ramadi, Iraq.

Pfc. Chassan Henry had been stationed in Iraq with the Army's 2nd Infantry Division since last year. He was worried when his unit transferred from Korea to Iraq, friends said, but he tried not to show it.

In e-mails to friends, he said he saw a lot of gunfire. Bombs exploded almost every day.

"He wanted to come home so bad," friend Dana Cohen said.

Friday afternoon, neighbors saw an Army officer in an SUV pull up to the small house off Jog Road where he lived with his aunt. They knew he had come about Chassan.

"I didn't want him to join the Army," Zachary Wohlman, Henry's best friend said Tuesday, wiping away tears. "A lot of people didn't. But he wanted to go forward. He wanted to do something with his life."

The two were close from the time they were little, playing football in the neighborhood when Wohlman was barely out of kindergarten.

"Before he went to the Army, we were together every day, almost every minute. He was basically my brother," said Wohlman, 17.

Henry was one of two Florida soldiers whose deaths were reported by the Department of Defense Tuesday. Spc. Michael S. Deem, 35, of Rockledge, died Thursday in Baghdad. He was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division but was not in combat. The military is investigating his death.

Henry's girlfriend, 17-year-old Kim Tracy of Wellington, said she was drawn to him because he was so funny and so respectful.

"He was perfect," she said.

Tracy knew it was dangerous for him in Iraq. He told her it was a good day if no bombs went off, but he didn't like to talk about the fighting.

"He would just tell me he loved me," Tracy said.

At 13, Henry went to the Eagle Academy, a boot camp program run by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office in Belle Glade. The program was supposed to last only six months, but Henry liked it so much that he asked to stay.

"There are less people trying to get you in trouble and more people trying to help," Henry told The Palm Beach Post for a story about the program in 1998.

The academy agreed to let Henry return. He helped start a new class to help mentor the newer recruits.

Henry started the program as a quiet kid, but came out a hard charger who wanted to do good, said Eagle Academy head Capt. Paul Miles, who kept in touch with Henry and relatives after graduation.

"I was very proud of him when he graduated from the Eagle," Miles said.

Henry briefly went to Wellington High after the academy, but left to go to trade school. At 18, he was living with friends and struggling to make money. He hoped the Army would give him a good career as a computer technician.

"He was pretty smart with things like that," friend Anthony Antonelli said.

Henry was uncommonly generous, friends said, helping people in the neighborhood fix their computers. Though he never made much money, he never let anyone pick up the bill.

Wohlman said he will never forget the time Henry insisted on giving two girls $40, just to drive the two boys a few miles home from the movie theater. He bought steaks for everyone at a barbecue to see him off last year.

Although Henry was a few years older than most of the kids in the neighborhood, he was well-liked by everyone, friends said. And he was a good influence, Cohen said:

"He kept everybody together and everybody out of trouble. ... A lot of the kids didn't have dads. They all looked up to him."

About a week ago, Henry called his childhood friend for the last time. He told Wohlman his battalion was about to start a two-week mission in the desert.

He sounded nervous, Wohlman said. He promised to call again soon.