A career military man from California who the Pentagon said was accidentally hit by a truck in Saudi Arabia has become the first American soldier to die in the U.S. buildup in the Middle East.
John Campisi, a 30-year-old Air Force staff sergeant and father of four from Covina, Calif., died Sunday during troop preparations. Campisi, who had been in the military since he was 18, was assigned to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska."It will be very hard on those children," Campisi's father, Salvatore Campisi, said. "Anything he could do with his children he did with them."
"The main thing is that he was a wonderful father," his mother, Marge Campisi, said in a telephone interview. "He was involved in everything with those kids - Scout leader, religious classes. He always made time for his family."
A preliminary investigation indicated Campisi was hit by a truck on a dark runway. Pentagon sources said he may have been wearing ear coverings that hindered his ability to hear. Pentagon spokesman Major Doug Hart said the accident is under investigation.
Besides a wife of 11 years and two sons and two daughters, Campisi leaves three brothers and a sister. Two brothers are in the Navy. "One of them just got back last week or he would have gone too," Campisi's mother said.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete.