Remembering a slain soldier

Vice principal Shelia Stevenson sat in front of a blank computer monitor and calmly debated how to honor Kris Higdon in Permian High’s graduation ceremony program Saturday.

Higdon, a 25-year-old U.S. Army staff sergeant, died Tuesday fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom when a roadside bomb exploded in his vicinity.

“I wonder if on the program we can include something like a moment of silence for Kris Higdon, a fallen Panther,” she said.

Principal Bruce Davis, who will introduce the brief memorial, approved.

“I think that will be very appropriate,” he said.

It will be a small moment Saturday evening in Ratliff Stadium for a 1999 Permian graduate who wasn’t able to walk across the stage to receive his diploma eight years ago, his father, Danny Higdon said.

When the majority of his Permian peers were attending graduation parties, Sept. 11 was still more than two years away and war in Iraq wasn’t even debated in the Permian Basin, a younger Kris Higdon signed up for basic training.

He left for Georgia on May 25, 1999, four days before his teenaged peers’ crowning moment.

“I used to tell him how good he looked in a uniform,” Stevenson said, remembering Kris in his JROTC outfit.

Higdon’s family will honor him at 10 a.m. today — exactly eight years since his departure for the military — in a memorial service at Sherwood Church of Christ.

Danny Higdon said a full funeral service will likely happen near Fort Hood once Higdon’s body returns to the United States.

“The hardest part is knowing that I’ll never talk to him again,” Danny Higdon said.

Higdon is the second Permian Basin soldier to die in Iraq in the last five weeks. U.S. Army Cpl. Ray Michael Bevel of Andrews died April 21 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit.

Local Army recruiter Sgt. 1st Class Jose Ramirez said nearly the entire city of Andrews came out for Bevel’s funeral. Any soldier who loses his life serving his country deserves the recognition given Bevel, he added.

Ramirez didn’t sign Higdon up, but he’s proud of the soldier’s service.

“I think the whole city of Odessa should be proud of him,” Ramirez said.

Memorial services

>> Odessa memorial service for Staff Sgt. Kris Higdon have been set for 10 a.m. today at the Sherwood Church of Christ, 4900 N. Dixie Blvd.

THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES

These local soldiers have died since Operation Iraqi Freedom began March 19, 2003.

>> U.S. Marine Cpl. Daniel R. Amaya, 22, Odessa.

>> U.S. Army Spc. Damian Garza, 19, Odessa.

>> U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Kristopher Allan Higdon, 25, Odessa.

>> U.S. Army Cpl. Ray Michael Bevel, 22, Andrews.

>> U.S. Army Spc. Robert Arsiaga, 25, Greenwood.

>> U.S. Army Spc. Brian K. Baker, 27, Midland.

>> U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, Pecos.

>> U.S. Army Pfc. Clayton W. Henson, 20, Stanton.