Lance Cpl. Branden Ramey and Stacey Lee were engaged for six days before Ramey was killed Nov. 8, 2004, while serving in Iraq with the Madison-based Golf Company 2nd Battalion. He was 22 years old.
Lee last saw him Sept. 7, 2004, when she visited him at Camp Pendleton in California.
\He said, 'We'll just say, I'll see you later,'"" Lee said. ""And I looked at him and I said, 'I feel like this is the last time I'm ever going to see you again.'""
Ramey enlisted in the military after he graduated from high school in 2001. At that time, he and Lee had been best friends for several years.
""That was what he wanted to do, and he was really excited about it, so I supported him 100 percent,"" Lee said. After he returned from boot camp and the school of infantry, he was a reservist based out of Madison. They began dating and Ramey applied for active duty as a recruiter in Rockford, Ill.
Ramey came to Madison once a month to train with his reserve unit. In February 2004 the unit received their activation papers for combat.
""He wasn't supposed to go, but he didn't want them to go without him. ... He was so excited,"" Lee said.
After three months at Camp Pendleton, the Golf Company was shipped to Iraq Sept. 14.
She wrote him twice a day and also sent him packages with sports equipment every two weeks. They talked twice every Monday for 10 to 20 minutes each time. He could never tell her by phone or mail where he was or what he was doing.
On Nov. 2, however, Lee's phone call with Ramey was unlike any other.
He said to her, ""You know I love you more than anything, and you know everything's going to be OK and it's all going to work out. ... If I was there right now I would get down on one knee and ask you to marry me. I am serious, will you marry me?""
This was the last time Lee ever spoke with Ramey. He was killed by the only thing he feared in Iraq-improvised explosive devices. These are homemade bombs concealed inside anything from soda cans to dead animals and humans.
Sgt. Laura Naylor, a UW-Madison student who served in Baghdad for 14 months said the IED's ""became the scariest thing over there, because they're so detrimental."" She said everything the troops do is dangerous, and that just being in the country is a risk in and of itself. When her comrades were killed, she would ask herself, ""When is it my turn?"" Ramey shared Naylor's sentiment.
""The only thing that makes me the slightest bit nervous is the IEDs, but I'm ready for them. That's what I spent all this time training for.""
Ramey wrote a letter that said, ""I have come to the conclusion that I am not going to die here, I refuse to die here; there is no way I am going to die here. ... I can't; it's not right.""
Ramey died with two others in a Humvee transporting five Marines when an IED exploded beneath it.
""The minute I found out something happened to him, I had a sick feeling in my stomach,"" Lee said. ""It's there every morning when I wake up; it's there every night when I fall asleep. It doesn't go away, and it hasn't gotten better.""
Street signs with his name have been put up in Belvidere, Ill., and the local semi-professional football team that he was a part of before leaving for California dedicated their spring season to their former teammate. They wear a patch on their uniforms in his honor.
He was active in Toys For Tots, and in Iraq his main concern was the children. He had Lee mail him candy to give to the Iraqi kids, and in every letter to Lee he mentioned his hope for a better life for the children.
""He said, 'If nothing comes of this war, I only hope if there's one thing that can change, it's that there's a better life for these kids,'"" Lee said. ""'When we go down these streets, these kids would wave to us, blow us kisses and they gave us thumbs up.'""
Lee said she believed he would choose to return to Iraq after being sent home with his company-even if he knew he was going to die.
""It doesn't matter whether you're completely against the war; you still need to remember it's their choice that they're in the military,"" Lee said. ""When they go over there, when they get sent over there, it isn't their choice and they still need all of our support.\
