Sgt. Jacob Demand, 1975-2004: Soldier was month away from returning home

A divorced father of three youngsters, he talked about his children, his plans for the future and how excited he was that his year at war was coming to an end.


	Demand

"The spirit of that call was that he and the guys he was with were talking about coming home by the end of October and how happy they all were to be almost home," Demand's mother, Charlene Baldwin, recalled yesterday.

"His birthday was Sept. 9 so we were planning his party for when he got back. His tour would have been up. He was almost home."

Demand, a Stryker-vehicle commander with Fort Lewis' 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Stryker brigade, died in combat early Tuesday when his patrol came under attack by small-arms fire west of Mosul.

The northern Iraq town is the center of the brigade's area of operation. Five other soldiers were injured in the attack and taken to hospitals in Mosul and Baghdad.

Demand was a member of the brigade's 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, which performs reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition missions.

He is the 47th soldier with ties to Washington state to die in Iraq since the invasion was launched in March 2003, the 18th from Fort Lewis' Stryker brigade. He is the 44th to die since President Bush announced an end to major hostilities in Iraq in May 2003.

Demand's children, a daughter, Reanne, 8, and sons Josh, 6, and Seth, 5, were with his ex-wife in Indiana when he was killed. They and his former wife are expected to arrive for his funeral, still being planned, Demand's mother said. The slain soldier's father, Keith, lives in Arizona.

"His children are young enough that they don't fully understand," Baldwin said. "Jake had served previously in Saudi Arabia and Korea before going to Iraq, so he was away at different times in their lives. I believe they are not going to be able to make the distinction (between him being gone and death) until they are older."

Demand joined the Army two weeks after graduating from Garfield-Palouse High School in 1995. He had tested himself in school sports -- football, basketball, baseball -- and loved hunting and fishing.

When her son joined the Army in 1995, Baldwin noted "the world was a little safer at that point in time. His goals in life were to be in the Army a little while and then to be in the U.S. Forest Service."

She remembered her son as "a real fun-loving guy. He was such a good son. He always talked to us about everything. Teenagers go through being rebellious and don't talk; his phase was mild. He always talked to us openly. In the Army, he called from all over the world, wherever he was."

Baldwin said her son, however, never talked about his apprehensions or the situations he and his fellow soldiers were facing. "He protected us for the most part from a lot of dangers he was in," she said.

Demand occupied himself, too, with trying to brighten the bleakness of war, looking for the best in people, she said.

"One thing he said when he called is that he really enjoyed most of the people of Iraq. He talked of their support of the troops, about how little children would wave and smile. I sent him packages with little toys and stuff for Iraq children that he would hand out," she said.

"I ended up sending lots of Barbie dolls. The little girls really like Barbie over there. That one blew me away," she said, managing a laugh.

Since word of her son's death reached the farm towns around Pullman, Baldwin said "I see flags all over at half-staff. It's very reassuring to our family."

This weekend's Palouse Days to honor the area's farming foundations already have been amended to include a memorial for Demand.

Baldwin's husband, Bruce, is manager of a local farmers co-operative, Palouse Grain Growers Inc. "So the farmers will drive a truck with Jake's name on it," she said.

A special education educator in the Palouse, Baldwin said the school staff held a memorial for her son and have lent their shoulders to lean on and to cry on.

"A lot of the kids knew Jake. He had been a teacher's aide in high school, so some of the kids he helped in elementary school are now there. A lot remember him," she said.

Though the impact of her son's death is still growing, Baldwin said "I feel like he's peaceful and OK with it. Of course, the rest of us feel his life was too short.

"The one thing we want people to know. is that Jacob died to help the rest of us maintain the life we have."

P-I reporter Mike Barber can be reached at 206-448-8018 or mikebarber@seattlepi.com

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