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IBEW Members Son Awarded Bronze Star May 22, 2003 Like many Information Age parents of soldiers during wartime, Local 1547 member Nick Goddard and his wife Kathi spent every possible minute glued to the 24-hour news coverage of the war in Iraq. Their son Sgt. Lucas Goddard is not only in the military, he is a "screaming eagle," a member of the 1st Brigade of the Armys 101st Airborne, a force that was on the frontlines of battles in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Once they thought they saw him on the Fox News Channel. "There was a guy holding a bag, and it sure the heck looked like him," Goddard said. "But it may not have been him. Put a guy in a uniform, cut all the hair off, and they all look a lot alike." Though combat lasted only a few weeks, the time passed excruciatingly slow for the Goddards. But one day a couple weeks into the war, Kathi Goddard awoke in her home in Juneau, Alaska with a feeling. Call it a mothers intuition. She thought shed hear news of her son. She was right. That day, April 8, they learned that 21-year-old Lucas was alive and that he had been awarded a Bronze Star for valor by Gen. Tommy Franks, the allied commander of the war. "To us, its [the medal] secondary," Kathi Goddard said of the award. "Were just thrilled that hes OK."
And in photos of the pinning ceremony, his parents were gratified to see that Lucas Goddard appeared unscathed from the incident. From press reports and brief conversations with their son, heres what his parents could piece together about the events that led to the medal. During a particularly fierce battle for a compound in An-Najaf, Lucas captured a compound of weapons while under fire by AK-47's and rocket-propelled grenades. "He must have put himself in quite a bit of danger," said Nick Goddard, a journeyman inside wireman who is currently out of work. (Brother Goddards older son, Nick J. Goddard, is a Local 1547 first year wireman apprentice.) Under heavy fire, he was able to move his team to safety. Once the unit was protected, Goddard and his group engaged the enemy fighters, then called in Apache helicopters to destroy them. It was the biggest firefight Goddard saw during the war. The Bronze Star is presented to soldiers exhibiting meritorious efforts in one of three categories: service, achievement and valor. Goddard and fellow soldier Sgt. James Ward received their Bronze Stars for valor in connection with military operations against an armed enemy. The fact that Gen. Franks, who directed the war from Kuwait, took the time to go to Iraq and personally present the awardall before allied troops had even made it to Baghdadillustrates how significant Goddards actions were. His award made Lucas Goddard something of a celebrity, winning him an on-camera interview with Fox News Channel reporter Geraldo Rivera. One benefit of that interview was that the crew allowed him to use their satellite phone to call his parents, Nick Goddard said. The honor also earned him remarks from Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski (R), who spoke about his actions on the Senate floor in Washington, D.C. Lucas Goddard, who was captain of his football team, graduated in 2000 from Sitka High School. Based in Fort Campbell Kentucky, he trained as a paratrooper and in helicopter assault. He received infantry and advanced infantry training and has been through Ranger school. Last his father heard from his son, on Mothers Day, Lucas and his unit were in the Northern Iraqi town of Mosul, where they are guarding bridges and performing public relations functions like delivering supplies to local schools. Nick A. Goddard said he appreciated living in a time when war is beamed via satellite from the battleground to the airwaves in a matter of minutes. "I cant imagine what it must have been like going weeks without information," he said "And now you can watch it on TV practically live. It was a good time to be out of work."
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