Candlelight vigil for victims Posted On: Saturday, Nov. 7 2009 05:40 AM By Rebecca LaFlure
Killeen Daily Herald

FORT HOOD – As people began to trickle out of Hood Stadium Friday evening, Spc. James Smith stood alone.

He's didn't know the names of the 13 people killed during the mass shooting at Fort Hood Thursday. But that part didn't matter, he said.

"They're still soldiers," Smith said, as he grasped a single white candle and watched the flame burn.

"It's our duty to support them."

Hundreds of soldiers, Army spouses and their children huddled at Hood Stadium Friday to honor the victims of the worst attack ever on a military installation.

Some sought comfort. Others came to pray. Most were still struggling to make sense of the tragedy.

"We have grieving people once again at Fort Hood. It's no stranger to us," Col. Mike Lembke, III Corps chaplain, said at the candlelight vigil.

"We know standing shoulder to shoulder as an Army family is the right thing to do. We know in the midst of tears there could be laughter and joy. There could be hope."

At 1:30 p.m. Thursday, a Fort Hood officer opened fire at a Soldier Readiness Processing site, killing 13 and sending 30 to the hospital.

Maj. Gen. Douglas Carver, the Army chief of chaplains, commended the first responders who arrived at the scene and encouraged the Fort Hood community to lean on each other for support.

"Remember to keep breathing," Carver said. "Keep going."

Jenny Suarez, wrapped in a camouflage blanket, sat on the stadium bleachers, and cried. Suarez said she was driving onto post when the shooting occurred.

"Where it happened, all of our husbands and wives go through there. Every single person on this base has been there," said Suarez, an Army spouse who lives at Fort Hood.

"There's so few of us that understand the military life. We need to band together when something like this happens."

Smith stood on the Hood Stadium bleachers until his candle flickered out.

He was in the Warrior Leaders Course building, located behind the Soldier Readiness Processing site, when he heard gunshots.

Immediately, Smith helped gather all the Army medics in the building, and prepared them to go assist victims at the scene. Instead, they all spent the next six hours locked in a classroom.

"I came to reflect on the fallen and the injured," he said. "My fallen comrades."

Contact Rebecca LaFlure at rlaflure@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7548.