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Denver GI dies of wounds

By Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 28, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.
Updated January 28, 2008 at 9:45 a.m.

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Duncan Charles Crookston was injured in September.

Duncan Charles Crookston was injured in September.

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Saturday was Duncan Crookston's 20th birthday.

He didn't see it. The West High graduate died Friday afternoon, giving in to a nearly five- month fight against severe injuries received in a Sept. 4 attack on his vehicle in Baghdad, Iraq, that killed three of his Army buddies and wounded one other.

"It seemed in the past few days that he was just done with it," said his widow, Meaghun, who met Crookston as a West freshman and started dating him in junior year. "He had fought as hard as he could, and he just couldn't go on anymore."

He was undergoing treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for burns over more than half his body. He had lost both legs, his right arm and his left hand, and had other severe wounds.

Crookston, the son of Christopher and Lee Crookston, of Denver, was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division out of Fort Riley, Kan. He joined the Army soon after he and Meaghun graduated from West in May 2006.

"He told me in October that he was going to deploy to Iraq early in 2007," Meaghun recalled Sunday. "And I told him, 'All right then, let's go get married.' So the next day, we went and got married. That afternoon we were off to the courthouse."

He was an intelligent young man who quickly became his unit's resident expert in computers and other electronic devices.

"I walked down to one of the barracks rooms where he was hanging out and watched this kid complete a Rubik's cube in under 56 seconds," said Sgt. Tristan Ruark, a squad leader of Crookston's, in a blog. "His knowledge of computers and iPods and PSPs and electronics were unchecked in the platoon."

Crookston returned on leave in May and took Meaghun on a vacation to Florida.

"He didn't want to sleep at all," Meaghun said. "He told me, 'You can sleep when you're dead.' He was so full of life and had so much energy."

Before returning to Iraq, Crookston told his wife to be strong for him if something happened. And when it did happen, she spent nearly five months at his bedside, along with his mother, in San Antonio.

"I think he had a feeling that this was going to happen because he was always talking about death," she said. "He told me I needed to be strong if I ever lost him."

An account of what happened Sept. 4 can be read in Stars and Stripes at tinyurl.com/ 352uya. Several blogs and forums have kept track of Crookston's struggle, in which there was progress followed by turns for the worse.

Crookston wasn't immediately told that he had lost his limbs - he had "phantom" pain where his legs had been.

"After two months had passed and he was having a good day, he asked me about his right arm," Meaghun said. "And I said you know what, I am going to tell him. His mom and I told him about it."

Meaghun told him both legs had been amputated.

"Both, babe?" he asked. Then his wife and mother told him his right arm was lost along with his left hand, and that his face was badly burned.

"He said, 'Now that I know about my legs, I don't feel guilty about asking for pain medicine,' " Meaghun said.

"He was just a kind guy," she said. "He was very loving and selfless, one in a million. He was willing to give up his life for other people. When he decided he wanted to go into the Army, there was no talking him out of it."

flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247

Comments

  • January 28, 2008

    8:30 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    rmnreader writes:

    Sounds like a wise young man.

    RIP

  • January 28, 2008

    9:29 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    rickg19611 writes:

    This hero gets minimal media attention and 99.99% of the public ignores his plight. Meanwhile, the media goes berserk and wailing morons place flowers at the site of a druggie actor who fries his own brain with pills.

    What a sick society and planet.

  • January 28, 2008

    12:33 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    CDee writes:

    Rest in Peace

  • January 28, 2008

    12:33 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Lonestar writes:

    May God bless this young man and his family, and all of our soldiers and their mission. It is the loss of a young man like this with such a sense of duty and honor of his country that we should focus our mourning on.

  • January 30, 2008

    4:48 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Rayst writes:

    Meaghun and Duncans Parents, Word cannot begin to express my heartfelt sorrow for you all at this time. As a THANKFUL community citizen and as a Parent of a Marine of a soon to be Deployed overseas I want to Thank You for the exceptional service that your Son/Husband/Soldier has givin our Great Country/State/ Community. I can confidently say Duncan will NEVER BE FORGOTTEN and we al, owe you a debt we can NEVER repay you. except to say He will NEVER be forgotten. I was working at the airport today and saw something going on and realized it was you all welcoming home our communities hero home for the last time. To stop and pray for you all and Ducan was a GREAT PRIVILAGE. May GOD's comforting hand be on you all in these difficult day's and into the future, and may you Rest in Peace Soldier!!!!!!