U.S. military mission suffers its first death

Air Force Master Sgt. Evander Earl Andrews, 36, dies in a heavy equipment accident in Qatar.

©Associated Press

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 12, 2001

MacDILL AIR FORCE BASE -- An Air Force sergeant was killed in a heavy equipment accident in the Arabian Peninsula, becoming the first announced American death in Operation Enduring Freedom, military officials said Thursday.

Master Sgt. Evander Earl Andrews, who died Wednesday, was assigned to the 366th Civil Engineer Squadron at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. He was originally from Solon, Maine, the base said.

Maj. Eldon Hardwick from the Army National Guard headquarters in Augusta, Maine, said the accident happened in Aludeid, Qatar, and involved a forklift. Qatar is on a peninsula jutting off Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf.

Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a Defense Department spokesman at MacDill, said Andrews was at a "forward deployed location" supporting the campaign.

His parents, Odber and Mary Andrews, live in Solon, in western Maine. Three Air Force officers arrived at the family home at 1:30 a.m. to tell the family about the accident, said Dassie Andrews Jackson, who is Evander Andrews' aunt.

Andrews, 36, joined the Air Force after high school, she said. He and his wife, Judy, had four children ages 21/2 to 10.

Gary Tibbetts of Athens, Maine, said he and Andrews were best friends since high school. Tibbetts was best man at the Andrews' wedding in 1990.

"He was a good man, and I don't use the term lightly," Tibbetts said. "He was generous to a fault."

Military officials said Wednesday that a U.S. soldier was seriously injured in a separate accident in Turkey. The soldier was trapped between two trucks.

Officials did not disclose the soldier's name, the extent of his injuries or the exact location of the accident.

He was airlifted to a military hospital in Germany, where he was in serious but stable condition Thursday, officials said.

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