Fallen Indiana Army sergeant, honored by Obama, was son of a Mormon bishop, champion wrestler

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Ind. soldier was ‘free spirit,’ champion wrestler

INDIANAPOLIS — Sgt. Dale Griffin was the son of a Mormon bishop, a champion wrestler and college student who was struggling to find his way in the world when he turned to the military.

Killed Tuesday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, the body of the Army sergeant from Terre Haute, Ind., came home in a line of flag-draped coffins saluted in Thursday’s pre-dawn darkness by President Barack Obama at Dover Air Force Base.

The somber return was captured in full view of the media, reflecting Obama’s decision to relax an 18-year ban on such coverage that dates to the 1991 Gulf War and was strengthened by former President George W. Bush. Now families decide whether cameras can document the return.

Griffin’s was the only one to say yes out of the 18 families of fallen Americans who were on the C-17 cargo plane at Dover on Thursday.

“I think it was totally appropriate. He’s the leader of our nation, you know? He’s our commander in chief,” said Griffin’s mother, Dona Griffin.

Dale Griffin, 29, was deployed with the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash., when he and six other soldiers were killed in Tuesday’s bomb in Kandahar province, the military said.

Dona and Gene Griffin said their son, the youngest of four children, first mentioned a possible military career in high school — something he returned to again and again.

“I think it was simply because of everything that has happened since 2001 and the risk that he saw to his country and what measures needed to be taken to move those forces as far away as possible from our country,” Gene Griffin said.

His deployment to Afghanistan was Dale Griffin’s first since enlisting in 2005, said Joe Kubistek, a Fort Lewis spokesman.

“He wanted to be part of an organization that was taking care of things,” said Steve Joseph, his wrestling coach at Terre Haute South High School. “He wasn’t just a member of something: He wanted to do the very best he possibly could in it.”

Joseph coached Griffin to a state runner-up finish in the 189-pound weight class in 1999. Griffin was a team captain, an Eagle Scout and a member of the football team, he said.

“He was a hard-core kid, and no matter how much you required from him, he was always able to deliver,” Joseph said. “When everyone else was getting down … he was (saying), ‘We can do this. Come on.’”

Griffin’s father, Gene, is a financial planner and the former Mormon bishop in Terre Haute, about 70 miles west of Indianapolis. His mother, Dona, recently organized other women in the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make fleece blankets for deployed service members.

“They’re very strong and faithful people,” said family friend and current Terre Haute Mormon bishop, Christopher Newton.

“Dale Griffin is the kind of person if you were going to get into a fight, and you were picking sides, he’s the first one you would pick. He was just unbelievably tough and resilient,” said Newton, a Vigo County judge.

Griffin attended Virginia Military Institute for three semesters, majoring in economics and business. As a freshman, he won his weight class and was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the 2000 All-Academy Wrestling Championship.

“I have very fond memories of Dale and what he accomplished here at VMI,” said VMI wrestling coach John Trudgeon, who recalled Griffin as soft-spoken but confident.

But VMI buddy Chaz Wagner said Griffin was “a free spirit” who surprised his friend when he enlisted.

“He liked to have fun and seemed more of a partier than a military kind of guy,” Wagner said.

Associated Press writers Sue Lindsey in Roanoke, Va., and Rick Callahan and Jeni O’Malley in Indianapolis contributed to this report.