Cape Soldier, Mom Of 3, Killed In Iraq

BOSTON -- A Cape Cod soldier and mother of three has been killed in Iraq, U.S. officials said.

Staff Sgt. Alicia Birchett, 29, of Mashpee, Mass., was killed in a convoy accident in Baghdad last Thursday, the Department of Defense said.

She was assigned to the 887th Engineer Company, 326th Engineer Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

NewsCenter 5's Mary Saladna reported that Birchett's family, members of the Wampanoag Indian tribe, were mourning her loss Wednesday night.

Following old Indian tradition, her uncle Wayne Jackson threw tobacco into a fire, with drums beating in the background, the ceremony signaling the departure of a kindred spirit from the world.

"The family and the town, the tribe, were all hit pretty hard by it. She was a very loving person, loving mother. Give you anything in the world," Wayne Jackson said.

Birchett was the mother of three young boys, aged 2 to 7. Her family members said they are heartbroken at her loss.

"My daughter goes to me, 'Mommy, I just don't know why it hurts so bad. Why am I so hurt?' And that's how all her nieces and nephews and cousins feel," her aunt Laverne Jackson said.

Family members are planning a special service for Birchett this weekend. Wayne Jackson said as Birchett's relatives mourn, he pondered the words she wrote on the back of her military photo.

"I'm only doing this to make the family proud of me, and when I have hard times, I'll think of Mashpee and my family. So this town, and us, are all in her heart. We're not too political about it. She did it to make us proud and we are proud," Wayne Jackson said.

The family will hold Birchett's service at the Old Indian Church in Mashpee on Saturday morning. The 1995 Falmouth High School graduate is the second woman from Massachusetts to die in Iraq.

More than 3,700 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. About 60 were from Massachusetts. Another 11 Bay State residents have died in Afghanistan.