Fallen Hoosier Heroes Memorial for Enduring Freedom

Staff Sergeant Justin DeCrow was among the 13 people killed at Fort Hood, Texas on Nov. 5, 2009.  DeCrow joined the Army right after high school, married his high school sweetheart, and had served as a light wheeled mechanic and Satellite Communications Operator. He was known as an optimist, a mentor, and a loving husband and father.

DeCrow, 32, was helping train soldiers on how to help new veterans with paperwork and had felt safe on the Army post. “He was on a base,’’ his wife, Marikay DeCrow, said in a telephone interview from the couple’s home in Evans, Ga. “They should be safe there. They should be safe.’’

His wife said she wanted everyone to know what a loving man he was. In a statement Saturday, she said her husband's "infectious charm and wit always put others at ease." The couple have a 13-year-old daughter, Kylah. “He was well loved by everyone,’’ she said through sobs. “He was a loving father and husband and he will be missed by all.’’ The couple were high school sweethearts who married in 1996.

DeCrow was stationed in Korea from September 2008 to August. He left in September to go to Fort Hood.  Marikay DeCrow said her husband was first stationed at Fort Gordon in 2000, and she had hoped they would reunite at their home in nearby Evans when another post there opened up.

His father, Daniel DeCrow, of Fulton, Ind., said he talked to his son last week to ask him how things were going at Fort Hood.
"As usual, the last words out of my mouth to him were that I was proud of him," he said. "That's what I said to him every time - that I loved him and I was proud of what he was doing. I can carry that around in my heart."