Channing Singletary

News Obituary Article

2 weeks shy of home, Georgian dies in Baghdad

By SAEED AHMED

On long summer evenings, the little boy would sit at his grandfather's feet, peppering him with questions about life in the military.

He'd listen in wide-eyed wonder as "Papa" recounted yet again the strange and foreign places he'd been to and the people he had met.

There was little doubt then that Channing Singletary would follow in his grandfather's footsteps and enlist in the armed forces.

The 30-year-old Sylvester resident became Georgia's latest fatality in the war in Iraq when he was killed Friday in Baghdad by what the Defense Department is calling a non-combat-related cause. He was two weeks away from completing his tour of duty.

By Tuesday evening, Singletary's father still had not been told how his firstborn died.

"Right now, at this point, I don't have any idea what happened," Gary Singletary said. "They are saying it's under investigation."

Unlike many young men in small towns, who turn to the military because they need direction, Singletary knew from a young age he'd enlist.

"His grandfather was his inspiration, telling him stories of how he got to see things the rest of us only read about," Singletary's father said Monday.

Singletary graduated from Worth County High School and moved to Athens. Soon after, he joined the Army National Guard as a recruiter.

But when the war in Iraq broke out, he wanted to see combat, his father said.

Gary Singletary, who is a Vietnam veteran, recalled telling his son that "this war's nothing like any of the previous wars."

"He was fully aware of that," the father said. "He just felt it was his patriotic duty. He said it was something he had to do."

Singletary was assigned to the Army National Guard's 122nd Support Center in Savannah, and was deployed a year ago.

His father, who now lives in Plant City, Fla., said he had planned to take time off from work when Singletary came home next month.

The two enjoy checking out the Grand Prix circuit races, but none were scheduled for that time of the year. So they were going to play it by ear.

"Whatever he wanted to do. If he wanted to go fishing, we'd go fishing," the father said.

Singletary's mother and three siblings were also planning on going down to Sylvester to welcome him home. Instead, the family will gather at his grandmother's family home this week for a premature reunion.

His mother, who now lives in Greensboro, N.C., is expected to come in Wednesday. A sister lives in Tampa.

Another brother is in North Carolina, and a third sibling remains in Sylvester, the town of about 6,000 residents where they all grew up.

The family has not finalized Singletary's funeral plans. His body is expected to arrive home either today or Thursday.

Town officials have, however, told the family that residents plan on lining the streets after the funeral, waving flags and bidding their local boy farewell as his hearse leaves town.

Singletary's father is tilting toward burying him in Nashville in Berrien County, next to his grandfather.

In addition to his parents and his siblings, Singletary --- who was divorced --- leaves behind a 5-year-old son. He named him Preston, after the grandfather who had dictated the direction of his life.

© 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution