Daughter dies, family looks for answers

J.J. Huggins

November 08, 2007 12:41 am

— DRACUT — Army Spc. Christine Ndururi of Dracut called her family Monday morning to give them the news that her first overseas deployment would be to Kuwait and then Iraq.
The next day the military announced that the 21-year-old soldier died of a “non-combat related illness” at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.
The family was still waiting last night for an explanation about how she died.
The public affairs office at Fort Hood, Texas — where Ndururi was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment — released no further details about the death. Spokeswoman Nancy Bourget said it remains “under investigation.”
“She has not been sick,” Ndururi’s father, Wilson Wachira, 45, said yesterday at the family’s home at 46 Woodbine Path. “I’m waiting for them to tell me what happened. She was not ill, unless she was ill after 9 o’clock when she talked to her mother. Before she was deployed there, she had to have a medical checkup.”
Ndururi, an automated logistical specialist, called her mother at 9 a.m. Monday from a pay phone in Rhode Island to tell her about her assignment.
Then the parents heard from the military at 9 a.m. on Tuesday that their daughter was dead.
“To me, she was OK,” said her mother, Mary Mwaniki, 45, recalling the last time she spoke to her daughter. The conversation didn’t last long. Mwaniki, a nursing aide, was at work. She told her daughter to call back, but she never did.
Ndururi enlisted in the Army reserves while a senior at Dracut High School, her father said. The family moved to
Lowell from Kenya when she was 16, then moved to Dracut six months after that.
Ndururi is the first female soldier from the Merrimack Valley to die in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She is the second soldier from Dracut to die. Army Spc. Mathew Boule died on April 2, 2003, in a Blackhawk helicopter crash in Iraq.
Ndururi’s family is active with the Kenyan Community Presbyterian Church Ushindi in Lowell.
About 10 church members and relatives gathered at the home yesterday afternoon to pray. Some people brought food. The phone rang every few minutes. Some calls were from politicians’ offices offering condolences and assistance, including Sen. Edward Kennedy’s.
Ndururi graduated from Dracut High School in 2005.
“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams,” she wrote in her yearbook message.
“She was a bright light, and she had a smile that could light up the room,” said Kristine Morrison, Ndururi’s high school guidance counselor. “It certainly hit the faculty hard today.”
Family and friends remembered her as a devout Christian with a beautiful singing voice. She was the choir leader for her church’s youth group.
“She was a good girl,” Ndururi’s mother said. “She was special.”
Ndururi came from a family with a military tradition. Her father was a police officer in Kenya before moving to the United States. He is now a truck driver. Her two older brothers are veterans — her brother George, 26, served in the Army and Simon, 24, in the Air Force.
Simon has only served stateside, while George just returned home on Friday after completing a mission in Kosovo, her father said.
Wachira said his daughter was hoping to get a scholarship to study nursing after her military service. “She was caring,” he said.
Wachira said he last saw his daughter two weeks ago when he visited her at Fort Hood. Ndururi thought she was going to be deployed to South Korea. She was told she would be allowed to use a personal vehicle there, so she planned to ship her car over.
“She looked happy,” her father recalled. “She enjoyed being in the military.”
Then, last Monday she found out was destined for Iraq. She cried when she broke the news, her father said.
“I don’t know why they didn’t prepare her earlier, that she last Monday found out she was going to Iraq,” he said.
In addition to her two brothers in the military and her parents, Ndururi is survived by another brother, Ambrose, 20, and a sister, Faith, 17.
The family had not completed the arrangements for the funeral yesterday.
The Rev. Samuel Kimohu from St. Stephen’s Church in Lowell stood in the living room and blessed the family.
“We want to thank you for her services to this country,” he said to her parents.
The reverend said Ndururi is a role model for young people because of her service to her church and country.
Family friend Octavian Irura knew Ndururi since she moved to the United States and sang in the church choir with her. She said Ndururi never changed, like many people do when they move here from another country. She said that’s a good thing. Ndururi always helped out, taking care of Irura’s grandchildren.
“She likes everybody,” Irura said. “She was so good to us. She was there for everybody. She always wore a smile on her face.”
“She was a strong Christian, and her faith was unbelievable,” said Peter Mutura, the church secretary.
William Zounes, Dracut’s director of Veterans Services, said he planned to reach out to the family first, and then the town will likely do something to honor Ndururi at a later date.
“I’m sure the community as well will be very saddened by the loss of this young lady,” he said.
According to a military press release Ndururi earned the National Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal.

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