Posted: Jan. 9, 2008

When U.S. Army Pfc. Timothy Hanson was studying history at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, he wasn't certain what he wanted to do after college.

He wasn't even sure that he wanted to keep history as his major - so he enlisted in the Army, hoping the world experience it offered would help him decide what field of study to pursue.

And though he was unsure about his college pursuits, he was more than sure that he wanted to join the military, his mother said Tuesday.

In fact, he lost 35 pounds in about four months to meet the Army's weight requirements, she said.

"He was determined to make weight," Susan Hanson said Tuesday, the day after her son became the second Wisconsin soldier in three days to die in Iraq.

"And he was very proud when he did."

Timothy Hanson was a mortar man with the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.

He died Monday in Salman Pak, Iraq, of wounds suffered from enemy small arms fire. His mother said Tuesday the family was told he was shot in a tower while on guard duty in southeast Baghdad.

He was 23.

"He was already talking about re-enlisting," Susan Hanson said of her son, who entered the Army in April 2006 and was deployed to Iraq in March.

Born Timothy Robert Hanson in Kenosha to Susan and her husband, Robert Hanson, he grew up there, attending Roosevelt Elementary School and McKinley Middle School before graduating from Indian Trail Academy high school in 2003.

He developed a fondness for the outdoors as a Boy Scout and acquired a passion for cinema, his mother said.

"He loved everything from foreign films to romantic comedies," his mother said during a telephone interview.

"He was definitely a movie buff."

During high school Timothy Hanson had a newspaper route for the Kenosha News, and during college he worked as a ride operator at Six Flags Great America and in the dairy department at a Kenosha Pick 'n Save, his mother said.

After high school he attended Northern Michigan University for about a year before transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, his mother said.

He studied history at both schools but after about a year at Parkside expressed an uncertainty about earning a history degree, Susan Hanson said.

"I think that's why he entered the Army," she said. "He had intentions of coming back and finishing school."

When Hanson was deployed to Iraq, he took just about all of the 300 DVDs in his movie collection along with his portable DVD player, his mother said.

He called often and liked to pass the phone to his buddies, she said.

"When they called home, they would pass the phone to him so he could talk to their mothers. He got along with everybody."

The last time he called was Saturday.

"He wanted to know what my work schedule was. He said, 'Ok, I'll call you Monday morning.' "

Instead of getting a phone call from her son, Army officials came to the Hansons' home Monday to inform them their son had been killed.

"He was kind of a quiet kid but he was very conscientious," she said.

"And he was proud."

Along with his mother and father, Hanson is survived by his sister, Jennifer Clope, and brother, Andrew Hanson.

He is the 84th Wisconsin service member and second Indian Trail Academy graduate to die in the Iraq war.

Army Spc. Eric D. Clark, 22, a 2001 graduate of the school, was killed May 11, 2006, by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.

More on Jason Lemke

On Monday, the Department of Defense announced the death of 30-year-old Army Pfc. Jason F. Lemke, who died Saturday in Ibrahim Al Adham in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad from wounds suffered when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb.

Lemke was a 1996 graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran High School, where a tribute to him is planned.

His father, Gregory Lemke of Milwaukee, said his son was trained to speak Arabic and also spoke Spanish.

"His grandpa was in the Marines. His uncle was a Marine. My father was in the Army, and my older brother was in the Army," Gregory Lemke said. "So there's a family service thing there. He wanted to make a mark, I guess."

In addition to his father, Lemke is survived by three daughters, Amber, Liz and Casey; his mother, Colleen Lemke; and his sisters, Jerrie Lemke and Jill Lemke.

Visitation is planned for 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Max A. Sass & Sons Greenridge Chapel, 4747 S. 60th St., with burial planned for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Union Grove.

Georgia Pabst of the Journal Sentinel staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.