Funeral arrangements still are pending for soldier, formerly of Enid, killed in Iraq

Sat, May 17 2008

— Staff reports

Funeral arrangements are pending for an Oklahoma Bible Academy graduate who was killed Sunday in Iraq.
Army Staff Sgt. Chris Hake was killed along with three others when a roadside bomb exploded while they patrolled southern Baghdad.
Hake, 26, was a 2000 OBA graduate and was on his second tour in Iraq. School officials said they have not been contacted but could have the funeral in the school’s auditorium. Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Hake’s father, Pete, said he expected his son’s body to arrive in Oklahoma City late this week, and family members would accompany it home along with a full military escort. Burial arrangements are uncertain at this point, Pete Hake said, but he indicated his son may be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Hake and his wife, Kelli, have a year-old son, Gage. His family lives in Georgia, where he had been assigned to Fort Stewart as a member of the 3rd Infantry Division.
Pete Hake said his son was “100 percent” sure America is right to be in Iraq.
Meanwhile, online readers of the Enid News & Eagle have left messages of honor and tribute to Hake on news stories and on the Enidnews.com forum.
Messages regard Hake as a hero and thank him for his service to his country.
Hake is the second Enid man killed in Iraq. Army Staff Sgt. Clint Storey was killed Aug. 4, 2006.
Storey’s wife, Melissa, was one of those posting to Hake’s family online, thanking them for their sacrifice and asking God’s blessing for them.
“They do not lie when they say the ‘ultimate sacrifice’ — it truly is,” Storey wrote.
Sunday’s bomb deaths in which Hake was killed pushed the American troop death total more 4,000 since the beginning of the war in Iraq five years ago.