Friends, family mourn loss of soldier from Eugene
By Molly Blancett KVAL NewsEUGENE, Ore. - Family members are mourning the loss of Private First Class Cody Eggleston. Eggleston died Friday morning after being injured while fighting in Iraq almost two weeks ago. The army said he was hit by indirect fire during a mortar attack in Baqubah on Oct. 16.
Eggleston's friends and family said the news hasn't been easy to handle. "I'm barely hanging in there," said Eggleston's friend Kaitlyn Kite. "It's hard. I'm just trying to keep myself together." "It's been pretty hard," said Eggleston's sister Kaytrina Jackson. "The family has been taking it pretty hard. I'm just trying to stay strong for my little sister." Eggleston, known as C.J. by everyone, joined the military after high school. "He said he would try to make it but things don't always work out," said Jackson. Eggleston moved to Eugene from Redmond, Ore., in 2007 to finish school at North Eugene Alternative High School. Even though he lived in Eugene for less than a year, he made an impression. "He definitely warmed up to us," said Tony Satej, the school's head teacher. "He came in being kind of being a conservative Eastern Oregon student and thought of us as a little wacky when he first came here." Though he was only 21 when he died, his friends and family agree: he lived a full life. "He did everything in his life that he wanted to do," said Kite. "He did. He accomplished it all. So him dying, he died as a happy person." KVAL News talked to Eggleston's mom off-camera. She said she's numb. When we asked her what she will miss the most about her son, she answered, "hearing him call me mommy". Eggleston got married four months ago. His wife and six-year-old stepdaughter live in North Carolina. Eggleston's funeral is tentatively set for Saturday in Redmond, Ore.
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