Army Sgt. Elijah Tai Wah Wong

Army Sgt. Elijah Tai Wah Wong 42, of Mesa, Arizona died in Sinjar, Iraq, when a collection of unexploded ordnance, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds detonated while being moved to a demolition point. He was assigned to the 363rd Explosive Ordnance Company, Army National Guard, Casa Grande,Arizona. Died on February 9, 2004.

Sgt. Elijah Tai Wah Wong was a devoted husband and father who always managed to see the bright side in difficult situations. “You could put him in the middle of nowhere with a canteen of water and he would find a way to make you laugh,” said his sister, Helga Wong

A National Guardsman, Wong worked as a probation officer in Maricopa County. He leaves behind his wife and three childr en, ages 12, 9 and 2. “If you knew Eli, you knew his family was his love,” said Sally Maurizi, a former co-worker. Wong was born in New York but moved to Israel as a ninth-grader and enlisted in the Israeli army at 18. He returned to the United States and served in the Air Force, the New York Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve before joining the Arizona Guard.

Dear Betty,

Thank you so much to you and all the people that had made this quilts possible, and your kind letter completed the gift. We had received so much help and I’m overwhelm with all the support from so many people, it comforts me to know that there is so much gratitude for not only my husband but also for all of those like my family, who had lost a loved one in this war.

My husband always gave his everything and always put others before himself. Even thou we now suffer his lost, we are very proud of him and always had, you see, he was not supposed to be in Iraq. Eli had just finished a year of training in Florida for the EOD certification on July of 2003, and by the time he came back his unit had been deployed to California, and he was assigned to a different unit. When he found out that his original unit was finally going to be sent to Iraq, Eli did everything possible to be reinstated back to his unit and sent to Iraq. This process took a while, so he left about 3 weeks after the unit.

He was so excited to have been able to finally get this authorization, even when he was told that no single soldier had ever been deployed after the whole unit had departed. Before his departure a friend of his, asked him why was he asking to be deployed and his answer was, ” this is what I trained for, my guys are there and my place is to be next to them.” He also did it because he believed in the cause and from his experience in Israel, he preferred to have the war there than in our backyards. Eli didn’t want to have our children or any child to have to experience the fear of war so close to home. And when my friends asked me why I was supporting him on all this, my answer was and always will be, that this is the least I could do for him.

Eli always supported me and was something that was part of our union. To stop him from what he believed and loved would have killed his soul and would have been the worst death. We always believed that we have to follow our hearts and know right from wrong. And this is something that I’m trying to teach my children and pass this knowledge and beliefs that my Eli had. My heart is sad for not having him by my side anymore but what holds me through is that I get to see him everyday in my kids eyes and feel him in their hearts. He will continue living as long as we keep remembering him.