|
Obituary Notice |
| From THE NEWS TRIBUNE (Tacoma, WA) | |
| Friday, July 2, 1999; Page B4 | |
| Hannah Noel Dobberstein |
Hannah Noel Dobberstein, 19, born December 31, 1979, in Tacoma Washington, died June 25, 1999, while serving in active duty U.S. Army in Kuwait.
Hannah attended Parkland Lutheran Church and School, and was a 1998 graduate of Washington High School. She entered the U.S. Army in August of 1998. As a PFC with Charlie Company, 203rd Forward Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, Hannah was serving in Kuwait as a Medical Specialist and had earned the EFMB (Expert Field Medical Badge), the highest coveted award a medic can achieve.
She is survived by her mother, Patricia Dobberstein of Port Orchard, WA; father Thomas Dobberstein of Buckley, WA; brothers Joel Alan Dobberstein of Los Angeles, CA, Aaron Thomas Dobberstein of Bellevue, WA, Micah James Dobberstein of Buckley, WA; sister Rachel Lea Dobberstein of Port Orchard, WA; maternal grandmother Elaine Louise Wamboldt of Lakewood, WA; paternal grandmother Thelma Louise Dobberstein of Puyallup, WA.
Visitation Monday, July 5, 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at Dryer Mortuary Chapel and Tuesday, July 6, 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Parkland Lutheran Church. Funeral Services Tuesday, July 6, 1999 - 11:00 a.m. at Parkland Lutheran Church. Interment with Full Military Honors to follow at 1:30 p.m., Tahoma National Cemetery, Kent. Memorials may be made to Parkland Lutheran Church and School, 12309 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98444.
She was proud of being a soldier and being able to serve her country.
Arrangements by Dryer Mortuary. (Pub Date: 7/2/99)
Tacoma News-Tribune July 03, 1999
Young Tacoma soldier dies after Kuwait training march
Hannah Dobberstein, 19, called 'one of the best' by her recruiter, receives badge, commendations posthumously
Hannah Dobberstein was just 300 yards from finishing a 12-mile march that would earn her a coveted Army badge when she collapsed.
In Kuwait for a training exercise, Dobberstein was trying to earn the Expert Field Medical Badge, an honor for Army medics. Although offered assistance when she fell during the June 25 march, she knew she wouldn't win the badge if she accepted.
Instead, "She said, 'I'm a soldier. I can handle it,'" said her mother, Patricia Dobberstein of Port Orchard.
Dobberstein struggled to her feet and finished the race. But she collapsed again and died a short while later at Kuwait Armed Forces Hospital.
Although the Army has not released details of her death, she apparently died of cardiac arrest. Her mother said she had no history of medical problems.
Dobberstein, 19, was a Tacoma native and a 1998 graduate of Washington High School. Her mother described her as an opinionated but compassionate woman who enjoyed challenges and wanted to be an excellent soldier.
"It was something she always felt she wanted to do," Pat Dobberstein said.
Hannah Noel Dobberstein enlisted in the Army delayed-entry program early in her senior year of high school. She originally planned to join the military police, but later switched to medical specialist.
That change delayed her entry into the service for several months. Staff Sgt. Willie Lee Howard, who recruited Dobberstein, called her the "sergeant major of the delayed entry program" because of her long tenure. Sergeant major is the highest rank attainable by an enlisted soldier.
Howard said Dobberstein was an outstanding recruit who pitched in at his station in Spanaway and mentored other recruits. "She was one of the best recruits I ever worked with," he said.
Dobberstein attended basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and advanced individual training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, before transferring to the 203rd Forward Support Battalion at Fort Benning, Ga.
She wanted to be one of the best soldiers in the Army. She trained to transport wounded soldiers near the front line. She wanted to attend jump school.
"She always said she wanted to be on the front lines," Pat Dobberstein said.
Hannah Dobberstein pushed herself to earn the Expert Field Medical Badge. She passed a written test and successfully negotiated an obstacle course. The 12-mile march in three hours or less - a test she had passed before - was all that was left.
"She crossed the finish line with 16 minutes to spare," her mother said.
But when she did, she collapsed for the second time. Two doctors worked on her for an hour and 45 minutes, but she died at the hospital.
On Tuesday, at a memorial service at Fort Benning, Dobberstein received her Expert Field Medical Badge, along with other commendations, posthumously.
Pat Dobberstein said her daughter believed God had a plan for her. Now her mother believes that plan was for Hannah's enthusiasm to be an example to others.
"We're really proud of her," she said. "She accomplished a lot in 10 months."
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Reported by David Wickert <[email protected]>; © The News Tribune, 1999 Tacoma News Inc. 1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 (253-597-8742)
Seattle Times June 29, 1999
Tacoma soldier dies in Kuwait
by Janet Burkitt
Seattle Times staff reporter
At the age of 19, Pfc. Hannah Dobberstein already had achieved many of her post high-school goals.
The Tacoma native was in the Army, serving as a medic while stationed in Kuwait. The 12-mile march she started there last week was part of voluntary training to become an expert field medic. It was just like Dobberstein to make the extra effort, said her father, Thomas Dobberstein of Buckley, Pierce County.
When she collapsed about 300 meters from completion of the march, it was just like her to get up again, tell her partner she felt OK and continue marching, he said.
But after a few more steps, Dobberstein collapsed again. She was immediately treated by medical personnel, and a helicopter flew her to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead last Friday from cardiac arrest, according to a spokeswoman from Fort Benning, Ga. She had been stationed there before going to Kuwait about four months ago on a training rotation.
Military officials didn't say what contributed to her death. The temperature a half hour before she collapsed was 77 degrees, according to the Army.
An Army spokesman said it was likely she was wearing a helmet and carrying a pistol belt and protective mask. Military authorities are investigating the death.
Dobberstein was an athletic teenager - running track and playing soccer and basketball at Tacoma's Washington High School, where she graduated in 1997, said her father.
Still, the training she was doing in Kuwait sometimes was difficult for her, said her paternal grandmother, Thelma Dobberstein of Puyallup.
"She told us about the times she had troubles with her legs, (that they) weren't strong enough," she said yesterday.
But Dobberstein loved challenges, and she loved the training, her grandmother said. "She wrote that she was building up muscles and eating right - not so much snack food and more substantial food." She did not believe her granddaughter had any previous heart or serious health problems.
Dobberstein had talked about serving in the military since her junior year in high school, and joined in the summer of 1997, her father said.
Long before that, Dobberstein had shown a desire to serve people. When she was 13, her grandmother broke her hip. Dobberstein told her father she wanted to go to Michigan, where her grandmother was living, and stay with her while she was recovering.
For a semester, "she went to school across the street from my house, and made a lot of nice friends and stayed with me," Thelma Dobberstein said. "That's how good of a kid she was."
She attended Tacoma's Parkland Lutheran Church regularly, earned excellent grades and had "friends galore," her father said.
The fourth of five children, Dobberstein lived most of her life in Tacoma, moving after graduation to Port Orchard, where her mother had moved when her parents divorced.
Her mother and several siblings are at Fort Benning, where there was to be a memorial today, Thomas Dobberstein said.
Copyright © 1999 Seattle Times Company