HARTLAND — Tina Stratton spoke with her son, Pfc. Tyler M. Springmann, by phone on Saturday. He called during a family reunion and spoke with everyone.
Springmann, 19, a 2010 Nokomis Regional High School graduate from Hartland, was stationed in Afghanistan. He had married his high school sweetheart earlier this year and was looking forward to coming home for leave in December.
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“He was in a really good mood; he had a really good day,” Stratton said Tuesday. “He found a couple of roadside bombs before anyone could get hurt from them. … I loved hearing his voice.”
It would be the last time Stratton would hear her son’s voice. He was killed the next day.
The Department of Defense announced Tuesday that Springmann died in Kandahar province after he was struck by a roadside bomb on Sunday. Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth B. Elwell, 33, of Holland, Pa., was also killed by the bomb.
Stratton and Springmann’s stepfather, Ben Martin, said Tuesday that they were in shock after losing a young son who was enjoying life.
They had just returned home from Bangor International Airport. Stratton had flown out early Monday to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to watch Springmann’s remains being taken off the plane.
Also there was Springmann’s father, Robert Springmann, who is in the Army in Afghanistan and escorted his son’s remains back to the U.S., and Tyler’s wife of 5½ months, Brittney.
Stratton held back tears as she looked at photographs of her son, taken at the Bangor airport in May, when he was in between transferring from his division in Alaska to Afghanistan.
Springmann was happy doing what he wanted to do, fulfilling his dream, Stratton said. “I was so proud of him,” she said. “He may not be here, but his spirit will always live on in my heart. He’ll always be my hero. He’ll always be my family’s hero.”
Stratton signed her 17-year-old son’s paperwork for military enlistment.
“That was his dream,” she said. “That was the one thing he wanted to do and I wasn’t about to stand in his way of it.”
He was sent off to boot camp soon after graduating from Nokomis in June 2010. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, according to the Department of Defense.
Springmann married Brittney Black on Jan. 30 while he was stationed in Alaska, said Stratton.
In October, Springmann surprised his mother when he used leave time from boot camp to visit Hartland. Stratton knocked the coffee table over in amazement when her son walked through the door.
“I had no idea he was coming home. I got to spend nine days with him and then he went back to Alaska,” she said.
Springmann left for deployment to Afghanistan on May 4. During his enlistment, he called home nearly every day, said his brother Zachary Martin, 14.
“He’d tell us how it was going and the new people he would meet,” Martin said. “He was enjoying it because it was a new challenge for him.”
Then, Sunday morning, Springmann was killed. A chaplain and an Army officer went to the home in Hartland that afternoon.
Stratton and Ben Martin said Tuesday that services had not yet been scheduled, but the family intends to bury Springmann in Newport after a full military funeral.
Members of Maine’s congressional delegation released statements Tuesday in response to the news of Springmann’s death.
Sen. Susan Collins, said, “This loss is truly heartbreaking. My deepest sympathies go out to Pfc. Springmann’s wife and family, fellow soldiers and to all those who loved him.”
Rep. Mike Michaud, said, “I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Pfc. Springmann. He made the ultimate sacrifice for his country and we will never forget his honorable service.”
And Sen. Olympia Snowe said, “I join with all Mainers today in expressing my profound and heartfelt sadness on the loss of one of our own, Pfc. Tyler Springmann, who made the ultimate sacrifice while heroically serving our nation in Afghanistan.”
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