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Zephyrhills soldier dies of wounds from blast in Afghanistan

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Spc. Jonathan O'Neill will be posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, say officials at Fort Stewart, Ga.

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By RAY REYES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 17, 2009

Updated: 06/17/2009 09:57 pm

Everyone who looked at Jonathan O'Neill's Facebook page knew the situation was bad.

The military policeman had been fighting for his life since a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Afghanistan on June 2.

The next day, his mother, Jackie O'Neill, started posting frequent updates on his Facebook profile, keeping nearly 100 of the soldier's friends informed about his condition.

Jackie O'Neill wrote about her son's burns, which covered 40 percent of his body. She relayed accounts of his surgeries, his skin grafts, the infections in his lungs and blood and the bandages she said made him look like a snowman.

Above all, Jackie O'Neill wrote about a mother's love for her son and the hope she had for his recovery.

Then at 1:16 a.m. on Monday, Jackie O'Neill posted this:

"It is with the heaviest heart that I had to say goodbye to my boy tonight.''

Spc. Jonathan C. O'Neill of Zephyrhills died Monday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He was 22.

O'Neill, a 2004 graduate of Zephyrhills High School, enlisted in the Army in January 2007 and in June was the 549th Military Police Company, 385th Military Police Battalion, 16th Military Police Brigade at Fort Stewart, Ga.

He will be posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Relatives and friends say O'Neill was an even-tempered, selfless person who stood up for the people he loved. He was the voice of reason among a group of friends who enjoyed pranks and had the aura of a father figure even to those who were older than him.

After he graduated high school and worked at several big-box stores in Zephyrhills, O'Neill realized he wanted to do more with his life and see places other than the small town where he was raised, said his aunt, Jennifer Watkins.

"That's the type of man he was. He needed something to work for and something to take pride in," Watkins said. "He needed more, and by getting more he sacrificed his life."

Watkins said after she got a divorce in 2005, O'Neill moved in with her and her 5-year-old daughter and helped her get through that emotional time.

"He was my boy," Watkins said. "I would take care of him. Then he got to the point he became a man and took care of me."

On his Facebook page, O'Neill pondered his future in the military.

"Lots of decisions to make and not sure which way I'm gonna go," he wrote on May 24. "Never thought I'd consider reenlisting but I guess anything can happen."

O'Neill wanted to work in law enforcement and figured joining the U.S. Army's Military Police was the best way to jump-start a career, friend Brandyn Errickson said in an e-mail to The Tampa Tribune.

Before the accident, O'Neill was looking forward to coming home in a few weeks.

"He always wanted to know what was going on here with all of the guys," Errickson said. "He would assure me that he's doing good and that he would be home soon."

O'Neill was in the junior ROTC in high school and was a fan of the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Lightning and Rays, Errickson said. WWE wrestling star John Cena was his favorite.

"I'll miss his honesty on any and all subjects," Errickson said. "I'll miss seeing one of my best friends."

In her Facebook posts, Jackie O'Neill described her son as a fighter. She called him a hero and a gift to her and her husband even when she was about to fall apart by his hospital bed.

"He is a very sick boy," she wrote on June 8. "My heart is breaking. I looked at his swollen head and body and I saw my little boy beneath all the scrapes and burns."

The family has gathered in Jackie O'Neill's home in Tennessee and is in the midst of funeral arrangements, Watkins said.

Her son's final Facebook update on May 29 was: "Jonathan O'Neill is heading back out, just about 3 weeks and I'll be back on and starting the process of coming home."

Weeks earlier, among other updates and a countdown of when he would leave Afghanistan, O'Neill had written this: "Thought the war was over. Guess it's not over til I come home."

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920.

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