DALLAS — The family of a Fort Hood soldier who was murdered in the massacre on post last November is now fighting to place a headstone on his unmarked grave.
"When I drive up and see nothing there, it breaks my heart every time," Leila Hunt-Willingham said.
Her little brother was Army Specialist J.D. Hunt, 22. Eight months after he was killed at Fort Hood, his grave remains without a permanent headstone — an unmarked patch of grass.
"To continue to dishonor him by not allowing a headstone for people to pay respects to him is just unfathomable," Hunt-Willingham added.
She and her mother, Gale Hunt, who live in North Texas, are frustrated at Hunt's widow.The couple married two months before his death, and legally it is her decision whether to mark his grave at a cemetery just outside Oklahoma City.
"I am legally his sister," Hunt-Willingham said. "I have been his sister for 22 years, and she's been his mother for 22 years. To put all the power and decision in a wife who was married to him for two months — I don't think that's right."
In e-mails to friends last March, Hunt's widow, Jennifer Hunt, said it is her headstone, too. She wrote that she would get it taken care of, but she's not rushing it.
"I am trying my hardest to get it done, but it's hard with everything I have going on," Jennifer Hunt told News 8 in an e-mail from her Oklahoma home on Wednesday. "Despite what most people think, my life did not stand still that day — only my marriage. I still have kids, I am a single mom, I have activities for them and unpacking in our new home. I am doing my best, but no one is ever happy. I will get the headstone as soon as I can, it isn't something to rush!"
Still, Gale Hunt and her daughter Leila said they think eight months is long enough to select a headstone.
"We would rather not have to sue for his remains," the soldier's sister said. "We just want a headstone."
Gale Hunt revealed she actually paid more than $5,000 — what the military didn't cover — to bury her son. She said none of the funeral costs were borne by Jennifer Hunt.
Those expenses included a headstone, Gale Hunt added.
It's an honor they insist they'll sue to get unless his widow finally relents. J.D. Hunt's Texas family members said they have already spoken with several attorneys in Texas and Oklahoma.
Army Spc. J.D. Hunt's family is holding a public celebration for him on the weekend before what would have been his 23rd birthday. It will take place in Tipton, Oklahoma, beginning with a parade through downtown at 5 p.m. and a ceremony at the Tipton High School football field to follow.
E-mail jwhitely@wfaa.com
