Soon after he turned 18, Charles Yi Barnett
told his mother he wanted to join the Army.
"I said 'No, you're not going anywhere,'" said his mother, Ipun
"Yvonne" Dashiell. She forced one military recruiter to leave
her home, but the teenager was determined to enlist. He left for
basic training almost exactly a year ago, and in May he was sent
to Iraq.
Late Thursday, military officials went to his mother and
stepfather's Bel Air home with grim news: The 19-year-old had
died that day of injuries he received in Tallil in a noncombat
incident.
"I knew Jesus was holding his hand," his mother said. "I knew he
would be OK. I prayed for him. I never, ever thought two
soldiers would be knocking on my door in the middle of the
night."
Barnett was the youngest of three sons born
to his Korean-born mother and American father. His parents
divorced when the boys were young, and the three boys grew up
very close in their mother's home, said his eldest brother, Jason Barnett, 22, of Cheyenne, Wyo.
As a boy, Barnett loved drawing complicated scenes of fantasy
characters and comic book heroes. He was an excellent student
and often helped his older brothers with their homework, his
mother recalled.
"He was such a sweet boy. He was always a mama's boy," his
mother said, adding that he often crawled in bed with her when
he was scared as a child.
He attended Liberty High School in Sykesville and, after his
mother remarried, Bel Air High School, before obtaining a GED.
He wanted to serve in the Army for a few years and then attend
college, his stepfather, Walter "Mike" Dashiell, said.
"He was really trying to better himself," his brother said.
Just before he was sent to Iraq, Barnett visited his family
around
Mother's Day. He had filled out
and developed muscles in the Army, his mother recalled, and his
voice had deepened.
The Department of Defense has not released specific information
about the circumstances of Barnett's death. He was assigned to
the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat
Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, according to the
Department of Defense.
His body arrived back in the country yesterday, his stepfather
said.
His mother said that it was hard to accept her youngest son had
died. "I'll have to see him, and then I'll believe it," she
said. "He's too young to die."
In addition to his mother, stepfather and brother, Barnett is
survived by his father, Kenneth Barnett of New Jersey, another
brother, Jonathan Barnett of Bel Air, a stepsister, Lauren
Dashiell of Bel Air, and a stepbrother, Walter Michael Dashiell
Jr. of Bel Air. Funeral arrangements are pending.