USMA IN THE NEWS

U.S. Army Captain Who Died In Iraq Buried

By DANIELA ALTIMARI
Courant Staff Writer
Hartford Courant

January 13, 2004

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- One was a firefighter, the other a captain in the U.S. Army.

Together, these two friends made a vow: If the worst should happen, each promised to keep the other's memory alive.

On Monday, firefighter Phillip Garrison kept his word, delivering a tender tribute to Army Capt. Eric Paliwoda, 28, who was killed Jan. 2 in Iraq .

"Eric was a guy who always knew how to make a situation OK," Garrison said. The two had known each other since age 4½, when Paliwoda invited Garrison to hop on his Hot Wheels tricycle and ride through their Farmington neighborhood.

Paliwoda's friends and family members gathered in a little stone chapel at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to remember the towering former basketball player they called "Big E."

They spoke of his outsized personality, his tremendous discipline and his knack for making everyone feel special.

"We were so terrifically proud of him," his uncle Thomas Luneburg said during a eulogy that left him and many other mourners in tears. "It is impossible to express the sadness we feel today. ... The hurt is deep and will never go away."

Paliwoda, commander of Company B of the 4th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, died on Jan. 2 of wounds suffered when insurgents fired mortars into his base at Balad, 50 miles northwest of Baghdad . He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

His fiancée, Wendy Rosen, said she takes comfort in a conversation they had just two days before his death, when she reaffirmed her love. The couple had planned a June wedding.

"You were and always will be the man of my dreams," Rosen said, her voice raw with grief. "I'll always be your bride."

Paliwoda grew up in Farmington and West Hartford , graduating from Conard High School in 1993. He went on to West Point , where he played basketball and football, won a league championship in track and majored in environmental studies.

Col. Chris King, a professor at the academy, said he first saw the 6-foot-6 Paliwoda on the basketball court "abusing all the other classmates."

The two men grew close and Paliwoda became a mentor to King's three young sons. "He was a man who thought ... deeply about things," King said.

Paliwoda loved West Point : He had tears in his eyes on graduation day. He often returned to visit former professors and attend sporting events. In fact, he was known far and wide for his knack for organizing parties, said his friend and classmate Capt. Rance Lee.

"Eric had a way of planning trips and events out to the last detail," Lee said. A wave of laughter rustled through the crowd when Lee recalled the massive tailgate party Paliwoda organized before the 2001 Army-Air Force football game. The gathering drew more than 150 people, cost $2,000 and remained a topic of conversation years later.

Paliwoda was due home in April and had planned to return to the campus on the banks of the Hudson River to teach. But in typical fashion, he never called King to ask for a favor; instead, he applied just as any other candidate would and was accepted on his merits.

Following the service in the Old Cadet Chapel, the crowd walked solemnly behind the flag-draped coffin to the military burial ground. The captain's parents, Alfred and Mary Paliwoda, were presented with the flag.

Then his sister, Allison Csoka, and his fiancée, Rosen, placed long-stemmed roses on the casket before turning and walking away.

Courant Staff Writer David Owens contributed to this story.