Pvt. Michael P. Bridges

Michael P. Bridges and his dad went to an Army recruiting station during Christmas break 2001. The younger man turned to his father and said, "Dad, I'm a lot shorter and fatter than I thought I was," said his father, Terry Bridges. "At 5-foot-11 and 296 pounds, he was too heavy to join the Army." The younger Bridges began walking to his job at a pizza parlor. He started watching what he ate and worked out. A year and a half later, he had lost 119 pounds and signed up.
Bridges, 23, of Placentia, Calif., died Nov. 2 in Taji from a suspected friendly fire incident. He was a 2001 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Hood.
Terry Bridges happily recalls one Thanksgiving when his wife, Sherryl, told Michael to ask some guys over for a meal. "He said he'd ask four or five guys who didn't have family here to come over," he said. "The day before Thanksgiving, she asked him again how many were coming. He hemmed and hawed a little bit, then he said, 'Twenty.'"
He also is survived by his mother, Janice.
Bridges was buried in the same cemetery as his grandparents and his aunt, Gwen, who he adored. "I know she'll look out for him," his dad said.