Son asks residents to shine a light for fallen soldier

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — On the first anniversary of his soldier father's death, 6-year-old Darren Baysore is asking Fort Campbell-area residents to turn their porch lights on so his dad can see he's remembered.

Staff Sgt. Thomas Allen Baysore Jr., who served with the 101st Airborne Division, was killed a year ago Friday in Afghanistan.

Darren Baysore also wants people to post the pictures of their porch lights (or if they don't have one, a candlelight) and a note saying where they're posting from to a Facebook page called Shining Love to Daddy Baysore.

His mother, Jamie Baysore of Clarksville, explained the request:

"Tom and Darren used to look up at the night sky all the time, and his daddy would say, 'I love you to the moon and back.' He told him that again the night before he deployed.

"When we received the news that Tom had died in Afghanistan, Jamie turned the porch light on so his father could see it from the moon. That's where he believes his dad is. He wants Dad to know his son is sending his love."

The effects of war and the devastation of loss are hard on everyone involved, but especially so for children, who are often obscured in the background during memorial services and Gold Star family events.

For Darren, according to his mother, the loss of his father has been a pain that hasn't subsided in a year since the news came.

"Last night, Darren sat in the corner crying," Baysore said, "and he asked why he can't have his dad back. He looks at pictures all day, asks so many questions."

Capt. Michael Finch, now commander of Fort Campbell's Air Assault School, was Thomas Baysore's company commander in Afghanistan. He remembered Baysore as "the most caring, compassionate guy I knew – not just for his own family, but for his soldiers and everyone else."

"He was Sergeant of the Guard one day when an Afghan family brought a little girl to the gates who had been horribly wounded by an IED," Finch said. "He took control of the situation and stayed with her throughout."

In his journal, Baysore wrote about how he agonized while waiting for permission to put the 9-year-old girl on a Medevac flight for treatment. He helped medics treat her, praying that she wouldn't die. Thanks to his actions, the girl lived.

"That family will be forever grateful for Tom," Finch said.

Not long after that incident, Baysore was killed in Afghanistan's Paktya Province by an enemy combatant wearing an Afghan army uniform.

It was Baysore's third deployment to Afghanistan, and his fourth deployment, counting Iraq, since 9/11.

Baysore was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Jamie Baysore said she and Darren will be going back to Arlington in October, the month of her wedding anniversary and Thomas's birthday.

But first, on Friday, there will be a one-year memorial at Fort Campbell, and then Jamie and Darren will go home and turn their porch light on.

Darren will turn on his iPad, go to the special Facebook page set up for the occasion, and wait to see if anyone else remembers.