Body Of Soldier Killed In Afghanistan Returned Home

MOUNT PLEASANT (CBSDFW.COM) - The body of a Northeast Texas soldier killed in Afghanistan has returned home.  Staff Sergeant Chauncey Mays was killed February 28 in Wardak Province by a roadside bomb.  On Wednesday his body was flown to Greenville before being escorted to a funeral home in Winnsboro.

On a cool Wednesday night, family members gathered in Mount Pleasant to remember the soldier they loved and lost.

Katherine Mays was able to touch the uniform of her husband when his body arrived in Greenville Wednesday afternoon.  "That's one thing that I really wanted was to be able to touch him one last time."

The 25-year-old was on his 3rd tour of duty overseas.  He left behind not only a wife but also two young children.  One of them just old enough to understand.  "She kind of understood today that her daddy won't get to come home come home but he is home."

Even while fighting in a war on the other side of the world, Mays was still taking care of his wife and kids here in East Texas, spending his free time searching online for a new car for his family.  "The last time I talked to him was 4 o'clock Monday morning my car was acting up and he had found a car for me," says Katherine.

That new car will now have to wait while this young widow struggles with an uncertain future.  "For a wife losing her husband especially as young as we are I don't think I ever will accept that."

Mays' father Tommy says the best way to honor his son's memory would be to change the course of the war he fought. "I think the politics needs to get out of this untie our soldiers hands and let them do their job and let's get home."

Mays' journey home wasn't the way this family planned but they're proud he served.  "He loved what he did that's the main thing he loved what he did."

Funeral services for Mays will be held Friday at Lake Fork Baptist Church in Emory.