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DEL.ICIO.USCharles Warren: Toy becomes memento of a young father’s love
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Until Wednesday, the toy automobile carved of wood was a favorite of Jackson Warren, one the toddler was allowed to play with whenever he chose.
It arrived about a month ago, bought from an Iraqi vendor by a young father thousands of miles away. A father eager to get back to the quiet Duluth subdivision where his son, new baby girl and wife waited. A father eager to resume work at the hospital and the routine chores of a suburban life without roadside bombs and car bombs and ever-present danger.
So when the news came that Jackson’s father, Sgt. 1st Class Charles Houghton Warren, had been killed Wednesday in Iraq, the wooden car became more memento than toy, to be played with only on rare occasions.
On Friday, Jackson rolled around on the plush carpet of the family room while his mother, Carol Warren, his grandparents and a brace of aunts and uncles made arrangements to bury his 36-year-old father. Sleeping quietly in a swing was Jackson’s sister, Madeline, born six weeks ago â€â€? after her father left for Iraq.
“He was at a point in his life where it would have been easier to stay home, but he was proud to serve,” said his mother-in-law, Margi Papenhausen.
Charles Warren was yet another member of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team to be killed over an 11-day period in Iraq. Bombs planted in a Baghdad road took the lives of eight. For Warren and two others, it was a car bomb at a checkpoint.
Warren had always been fascinated by military life. Perhaps he came by it honestly, since his grandfather was a captain in the British Royal Navy and fought in both World Wars. Veronica Warren and her husband, Stephen, raised Charles and his nine siblings in London. Veronica had been born there; Stephen was an American citizen who taught at an International school there.
While in London, Charles was a member of the British Territories, that nation’s version of the National Guard. When he moved to the Washington, D.C., area 16 years ago, he joined the National Guard.
But at 20, and in a new country that was his by birth but not experience, Charles floundered. Finally, the woman who he’d met on a blind date and married and moved to Georgia with told him he should go back to school. He chose nursing. On the weekends he’d do his National Guard duty.
He got his associate’s degree and began working at Children’s Health Care of Atlanta last May. His new co-workers on the night shift tried to figure out which of the male nurse stereotypes he’d fill â€â€? flirt, joker or lone wolf, said Paul Ocon, director of critical care at Children’s. He fit none of them, instead rapidly developing the reputation of someone who was calm under pressure and compassionate.
One memory posted on a bulletin board at the Scottish Rite facility was of how Warren cared for the parents of a dying child, making sure they had private time as the child slipped away.
Warren would have been a medic in the Guard, but he needed an advanced degree, his sister, Rachel Elliott said. Instead, he helped remove bombs from roads.
He’d planned on going back to school when he came back from Iraq. Somehow, he’d juggle it with the rest of his duties.
In a letter he wrote to Madeline after watching a video of her birth sent to him by Carol, he told Madeline how excited he was to see her and how proud he was to be her father.
Along with the letter, Charles sent a teddy bear for her to sleep with until he got home and could hold her himself.
Comments
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By Victoria Sells
August 6, 2005 01:03 AM | Link to this
I for one am so proud to be a part of the Warren family. And though the time I spend with them is limited uncle Charles as always held a special place in my heart. as a godfather, and an uncle but mostly for the kind, funny decent man he is, was and always will remembered as. these times are always hard on a family but it the hard times that make a family closer. this however is what no family should have to put up with. I give my utmost support to the troops in Iraq, American and British but I will never give my support to the cause behind the war. there is to much that the American and British population is losing. Father, uncles, brothers, sons etc. etc. but also we are losing the lives that have the potential to become something great, not to the world but to the community around them. Charles Warren would have become an amazing nurse and father and this determination, and love has been destroyed. He leaves behind a amazing wife and a beautiful son and daughter. All in all it is not fair and it is not right. To end on a note of anger would not be appropriate as it is not what Charles would have wanted and so instead I will say this: God bless the soldiers that give their all for a better world, and for their families who must wait patiently through good times and bad. And to Uncles Charles
~I love you dearly, god bless and sleep well until I see you again.
By david sells
August 6, 2005 02:04 AM | Link to this
Remember Staff Sergeant Charles Hougton Warren it was a great man with good heart he was so kind and good to the family as well. I am his brother in law and know that he not afraid to speak and loved to be in the limelight. He was always good fun and we had good times. He loved his food and to drink beer, and loved every time we came to America. He would be waiting for us and love to joke with us and we would always end up have good laugh his sister, my wife Rebecca. We are all a big happy family so close and though sometimes there were fights he always had time for a hug and kiss. he is also god father to our daughter Victoria and good uncle to our other children John and Melissa. he was very proud of his family very good husband and father to his son and his new baby who he has never seen. We will always remember him. I am very proud to be his brother in law we are flying out today to be with his family who we all need at this unhappy time.
By Leslie Reynolds
August 6, 2005 06:17 PM | Link to this
My prayers go out to the Warren Family. Charles was our daughter’s nurse last summer in the PICU at Scottish Rite. He was an excellent nurse and really made an impression on our family. You could tell he took great pride in his work. He was so kind and I can still remember talking with him about Jackson. He was talking about how he loved being a father. He was so proud and loved his whole family.
I am so sorry for his whole family. I was stunned when I saw the report on the news last night. I know we want to ask Why? Why God? We have to trust in our Father and know His plan is far more huge than we can even try to comprehend. We can’t even try to make sense of it here on earth. My prayers go out to Carol and may God’s Grace get your through each day- it will, I promise.
By sherri
August 7, 2005 01:16 AM | Link to this
I didn’t know your loved one but I knew Mathew Gibbs that was killed in the same accident.Charles sounds like he was a great man, a loving father and husband. When I read the story and the comments all I could think of is this was a man who gave to others,even until his last breath.You and your children and other family members should be very proud of Charles for being so selfless in a very selfish world.You are in our prayers and I pray that God will be with you each day and give you the reasurring peace that only he can give.
By SSG. SLVIN
August 7, 2005 08:34 AM | Link to this
IAM A MEMBER OF CHARLIE 648TH AND I STAY IN THE SAME TENT WITH SSG. WARREN AND I TELL YOU I REALLY MISS HIM AND I KNOW HE IS IN GOOD HAND NOW. TO THE WARREN FAMILY TAKE CARE AND MAY GOD BE WITH YOU. ALVIN
By Lisa Hulber
August 7, 2005 05:44 PM | Link to this
Charles Houghton Warren’s loss is felt across the nation. Charles is my cousin too. I did not know him but I know his parents, Steven and Veronica, his grandmother Julia Warren and Aunt Julie, Our hearts are broken, I have been volunteering as a Moderator for a chat room that supports the 1/6 marine families, I was hoping to find out if there is such a group for the 48th? I am composing a condolence book for Charles and would like to have it delivered at the funeral. I would like to add your comments, If you wish to have your sentiments included please email them to me at lhulber@comcast.net.I am assembleing this book on Tuesday so please email me soon also if there are any pictures that anyone would like included please include those in your email Thank you Lisa Hulber Moderator Onesixmarine2005 lhulber@comcast.net
By Candice Everts
August 7, 2005 05:49 PM | Link to this
I attended nursing school at North Georgia with Charles and he was in every one of my clincals. I was so saddened when I heard the news. I still remember his laugh and his smile and how funny he was in school. He is truly a good man and I am very proud of him for everything he has done for his country, family, and his patients and their families. I send my prayers out to his family especially his wife and children. I am so sorry for their loss and pray that their pain may be eased in time. I know that he is with God now which is the only comfort. He will be missed and remembered fondly by all who ever met him. God bless you Charles and may God be with your family.
By Loretta
August 9, 2005 01:11 PM | Link to this
It saddens me when we lose a promising young man he wanted you to know he will never forget any one who has served this country, and given their lives for the Freedom of others.
By Ryan Perron
August 11, 2005 10:45 AM | Link to this
I worked with Charles for 4 years in a furniture warehouse just prior to him going to work for Children’s. He was funny and always kept such a level head when others didn’t. Always on the go and full of energy and ambition. His energy and smile was contagious! My family’s prayers have his in mind.
By Kimberly Aday
August 17, 2005 01:21 AM | Link to this
I am a nurse at Children’s and had the honor of working with Charles on night shift. We are all grieving beyond words here in the unit. I still cannot work a shift without shedding tears as I pass the memorial bulletin board in our hall, tacked full of pictures, articles, and personal emails and postcards that Charles sent us from Iraq. He mentions so many times how he couldn’t wait to come back to work—-and boy we couldn’t wait til his shining face came back as well. The devastation of his death is overwhelming. And it saddens me to an even deeper level to know that this grief is being experienced nationwide for all the other troops who have lost their lives. May God comfort Carol and may Charles live on through his beautiful children. He was an incredible man. We miss you Charles.