Iraqis walked into soldier's heart

July 22, 2005, 11:47PM

In return, his family, friends are collecting shoes for country's children in his memory

By ALLAN TURNER
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

For his 20th birthday on Aug. 16, Wesley Riggs will get shoes. New shoes, slightly used shoes, shoes for casual and dress occasions, shoes for boys and for girls, mountains of shoes, more than anyone could ever need.

But the Baytown-area Army private, known for his ready laugh, will never wear any of them. He was killed May 17 while on patrol in Iraq. The footwear instead will go to the children of Iraq — kids whose shoeless, newspaper-wrapped feet tore at his heart.

The shoes are being collected in an areawide campaign organized by the dead soldier's friends and family to honor his memory. His mother, Gayle McDermott, said in an e-mail that the idea was inspired by photographs the military gave her after her son's death that showed Riggs with Iraqi children.

"I cannot get the images of these children out of my thoughts," she wrote, "and I know that Wesley is putting them there."

McDermott recalled the last conversation with her son.

"He told of how he got to interact with the children of this town and how much he enjoyed it and how it broke this heart to see them with so little," she said.

"He was questioning what the hell Americans were doing in that country because they hate us so.

Then he grew silent and said, 'Mom, you know America views our children as our future. That's how I see it here. If maybe we can get through to the children, then maybe someday Iraq's view on Americans will change.'
"
Lenece Peters, a coordinator of the drive, said Riggs told friends and family that the children often resorted to wrapping their feet in newspapers. "That broke his heart," she said.

In addition to shoes, the collection campaign is accepting clothing, toys and other items appropriate for young children, Peters said.

The donations will be shipped to Iraq, where they will be distributed by Riggs' former Army colleagues in the 3rd Infantry Division.

In a letter to the soldier's mother, Riggs' commander, Capt. Dene Leonard III characterized Riggs as a man who "always had a smile on his face and a warm thought in his heart."

"On numerous occasions I saw or heard your son give wholeheartedly of himself so that others would be better off," Leonard wrote McDermott.

Riggs, a graduate of Barbers Hill High School, was killed when a roadside bomb exploded while he was on patrol at Tikrit. He was the 30th Houston-area resident to die in the war.

Riggs' May 25 funeral drew more than 500 mourners.

One of them, speaking of the young soldier's character, paraphrased a military epitaph:

"He wanted to save the world, and he died trying," she said. "But to all of us (left behind) he was the world."

allan.turner@chron.com

May God watch over your son, and Peace be with you his family and friends

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3278660