Woman who lost father in Iraq loses husband, too

Army Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Richard Cody, left, and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill Tuesday, as the committee opened hearings to increase death benefits and services available to survivors of military personnel.

Associated Press Writer

Less than a year ago, Tabitha Bonilla’s father gave his life for his country in Iraq.

On Friday, her husband gave his, too.

Army Capt. Orlando A. Bonilla, 27, of Killeen, Texas, was killed in a helicopter accident in Baghdad, just days after the pilot and his wife had talked about his anticipated return home in early March.

‘‘He told me he was going to fly a couple more missions before he came home,’’ Tabitha Bonilla, 23, said Monday night from her mother’s home in Fayetteville, N.C. ‘‘I was going to welcome him home, since I didn’t get to welcome my dad home.’’

She described her husband as ‘‘just a wonderful, kindhearted, caring, gentle person.’’

Her mechanic father, Army Sgt. 1st Class Henry A. Bacon, 45, died last February when he was hit by one vehicle while making repairs on another in Dujayl, Iraq.

Bacon, who joined the Army in 1982, had delayed his retirement to serve in the war on terrorism, relatives said.

Bacon’s death delayed his son-in-law’s deployment to Iraq, but only for a few months.

‘‘He treated my dad as though he were his dad,’’ Keith Bacon, 18, said of his brother-in-law. ‘‘He wanted to be here for us, but he said he wanted to do his job. ... Even though he was going through a troubling time, he was needing to go over there. You know how a military man is.’’

Orlando Bonilla was attending the University of Texas at Austin and waiting to get his Army commission when he took a part-time job at a Target store in fall 1999.

That’s where he met his future wife, a fellow Target employee whose father was stationed at Fort Hood.

‘‘I wanted to show him that I could be strong,’’ Tabitha Bonilla said, explaining why she did not pressure her husband to stay home. ‘‘I told him that my biggest regret would be that if he left too and wouldn’t come back. But I also knew that was his stupid job.

‘‘It’s not stupid,’’ she added, through her tears, ‘‘but ... I’m just very hurt.’’

(AP Photo/Dennis Cook)