Wednesday, August 20, 2003

By Ervin Dyer, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

An Army reservist from Fayette County was killed when the vehicle he was driving struck a land mine Monday in Iraq.

Eric Hull, 23, whose passion from an early age was cooking, was assigned to the 99th Regional Support Command's 307th Military Police Company based in New Kensington. His vehicle hit a mine after he had picked up food supplies and water from Baghdad airport.

When he was 3, he showed his father, Raymond, how to scramble eggs. While his wife, Debbie, was hospitalized, the elder Hull needed to cook breakfast for his son, but wasn't very good at it. Even the dogs refused the eggs.

"All the while," said Raymond Hull, "Eric was telling me I'm doing it wrong. His eggs were delicious. He could watch his mom in the kitchen and just catch on."

Eric Hull took his culinary skills to the Army Reserve. He joined while still a junior in high school.

The family got the news of his death on Monday, when Mr. Hull's father was called from his job at U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock and met two uniformed military personnel at his house.

A lifelong resident of the Uniontown area, Mr. Hull meet his wife, Missy, at Uniontown Area High School, where he played on the football team. The couple has a daughter, Mia, 2, and a 1-year-old son, Dominic.

The couple recently finished building a house in Upper Middletown. Missy Hull moved in on Memorial Day, but Mr. Hull never saw the home, except in e-mail photos.

Mr. Hull was a Boy Scout, earning the rank of Eagle Scout before 18 and going on to achieve three additional Eagle palms.

He was an attentive, well-rounded Scout, said Ray Williams, former Troop 687 scoutmaster who guided Mr. Hull.

"He was enthusiastic about everything."

He did so well with the Boy Scouts, said his father, that they talked about him joining the Reserve. Both thought it would teach him further discipline and responsibility.

After senior year of high school, Mr. Hull went to boot camp at Fort Jackson, S.C. He then trained as a cook for eight weeks at Fort Lee, Va.

Two weeks after he finished there, in 1998, he came home and got married.

Mr. Hull studied to be a chef at Westmoreland County Community College and worked at local restaurants and as an underchef at Nemacolin Woodlands.

Six months ago, he was hired as a food services program director in Greene County, where he was in charge of school meals.

He had always wanted to cook, said his father, and felt at home in the kitchen.

"At holiday times, he helped his mother cook. When we went to Boy Scout camp, Eric always did the cooking. It was a role he enjoyed."

Mr. Hull communicated with the family via e-mail but last spoke with his father about two weeks ago.

He told them the area where he was stationed was safe but that he had to travel to the airport twice a week to pick up food and that there were mines and booby traps.

"He sounded upbeat," said his father. "He knew there was danger, but he didn't seem to be worried that much."

When Mr. Hull got his orders to go to Iraq, he told his father that while he would prefer staying with his children, he had a job to do.

Mr. Hull's sister, Ashley, is three years younger and is in the Army stationed in Germany, where she serves as a supply specialist.

According to her father, she was in training to be sent to Baghdad.

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