Marlin Rockhold was the first Tri-state soldier killed in Iraq. He was shot in the head while directing traffic on May, 8 2003 in Baghdad.
He leaves behind wife, Devonna Rockhold, and a daughter, Therashia.
The flight from her home in Fort Stewart, Georgia to Cincinnati, Rockhold says for a moment, brought her closer to her husband, U.S. Army Private Rockhold.
"I kind of shed a tear on the plane. We got above the clouds and my daughter said, 'heaven.' I said, 'This is as close to your dad that I could ever be,'" Rockhold said.
"I talked to him the Sunday before he was killed. He expected to be here anytime between the end of this month and July 4. So I was expecting him to come home. Not like this," Rockhold said.
"He wanted to change his life. He felt like if he stayed in Hamilton, he would not accomplish anything," Rockhold said.
But by leaving their hometown, she said, he accomplished everything.
"He said he was going to join the military. He said he was going to see the world. He was gonna be a father and he did everything he said he was going to do," Rockhold said.
And when Saddam Hussein's government fell, Rockhold thought her husband's accomplishments included surviving the war in Iraq.
"When they said the initial war was over, everybody assumed just that. I didn't think my husband could get killed after the fact," Rockhold said.
"I just want him to be remembered. That he was not forgotten. I'll never forget him," Rockhold said.
