He didn’t just play well. Helooked the part, too.Beforeeachgame,thesandy-

haired,blue-eyedboyputonhisuniformandstoodonthetubinhis parent’s bathroom so hecould get a full-length look at hisuniformed self inthemirror.

He’d completehis conversion toballplayer with apack of BigLeague Chewbubblegum.He’dstick abigwad inhis mouth andthen share therest with histeammates.He was terri-

fied of Chuck ECheese and theEasterBunny;heloved trains andfamilyandmusicand watching planes land atHuntsville International Air-port.HelovedtheBlueAngels,too.On a recent visit to Orange

Beach,hisparentsdrovehimtoPensacola’s National AviationMuseumsohecouldlookatthedisplay of the Navy’s precision

flight squadron.When his parents told him

theywere taking him to the airshowSunday–whichwastheirsixth wedding anniversary – tosee theBlueAngels in flight, hereached that rung of excite-mentachievableonlyby5-year-oldboysenroutetoseetheirhe-roes.

And then, the unthinkable.“His dad tried

to catch it,” saidJosiah’s“Mamaw.”Butamancan’t

catch somethingthatweighs5,000pounds, no mat-ter how hard hetries, no matterhow much he’drather it was himbeneath the ma-chinery.

And that’swhen JosiahMiller becamepart of a sad his-tory, though hiscelebrity shouldhave been forsomething else.

Like how he could sit raptthroughanentireBravesgamesontelevisionorhowheknewallof thewords to “FolsomPrisonBlues” or howhe could exist al-most solely on McDonald’sChickenMcNuggets.Anything butwhat it is.

SonContinued frompage A1

The Huntsville Times, Tuesday, July 1, 2008 A5

0000009571-01

TRAGEDY AT AIRSHOW 2008

The Associated Press

Capt. Ivan Castro runs alongside Spc. Robert Garner, left, while holding a tether with Sgt. ZanePlatt for guidance during morning physical training in Fort Bragg, N.C.

up to it.“I amgoing topush the lim-

its,”the40-year-oldsaid.“Idon’twant to go to Fort Bragg andshow up and sit in an office. Iwant to work every day andhave amission.”Since thewar began in Iraq,

morethan100troopshavebeenblindedand247othershavelostsightinoneeye.Onlytwootherblindofficersserveintheactive-dutyArmy:oneacaptainstudy-ing to be an instructor atWestPoint,theotheraninstructoratthe CombinedArmsCenter atFort Leavenworth, Kan.An 18-year Army veteran,

Castro was a Ranger beforecompletingSpecialForcestrain-ing,thegruelingyearlongcoursemany soldiers fail to finish.Hejoined the Special Forces as aweaponssergeant,earnedanof-ficer’s commission andmovedon to the 82nd – hoping to re-turn one day to the SpecialForces as a team leader.Then life changed on a

rooftop outside Youssifiyah,Iraq, in September 2006.Castro had relieved other

paratroopersatopahouseaftera night of fighting. He neverheard the incoming mortarround.Therewasjustaflashoflight, then darkness.Shrapnel tore through his

body, breaking his arm andshoulder and shredding theleft side of his face. Two otherparatroopers died.When Castro awoke six

weeks later at the NationalNavalMedicalCenterinBethes-da,Md.,hisrighteyewasgone.Doctorswereunabletosavehisleft.TheBlindedVeteransAsso-

ciation estimates 13 percent ofall combathospital emergencyproceduresinIraqhaveinvolvedeyeinjuriesandmorethanhalfof the soldiers with traumaticbrain injuries also suffer somevisualimpairment.Thatmakesthem the third most commoninjury–behindpost traumaticstress disorder and brain in-juries – in Iraq.“Whathe isdoing isastrong

example that blind individualscan lead exciting and mean-ingful careers,” said ThomasZampieri, director of govern-ment relations for the associa-tion.After 17months in recovery,

Castrosoughtapermanentas-signmentintheservice’sSpecialOperationsCommand,landingdutywiththe7thSpecialForcesGroup. He focuses on mana-gerial tasks while honing thegroup’sSpanishtraining,ause-ful language for a unit that de-ploys regularly to train SouthAmerican troops.Though not fully independ-

ent,hespentaweekendbeforestartinghisjobwalkingaround

theGroupareaatFortBraggtoknow justwherehewasgoing.Hecarefullymeasuredthestepsfrom car to office.“Obviously, he cannot do

somethings thatasightedper-soncando.But Ivanwill findaway to get done whatever heneeds to get done,” Col. SeanMulholland said. “What I ammost impressed with, though,is his determination to contin-ue to serve his country after allthat he’s been through.”Castroworksoutregularlyat

thegymandruns,hislegspow-erfulandmuscular.Andthoughhehasaprostheticrighteyeandhis arms are scarred by shrap-nel, his outsized personalityovershadows his war wounds:Nobody escapes his boominghellos, friendlybanterandlim-itless drive.HerantheBostonmarathon

this year with Adm. Eric T.Olson, commander of theU.S.SpecialOperationsCommand.Last year it was the MarineCorpsMarathon. He wants tocompete in the IronmantriathloninHawaiiandgradu-ate from theArmy’s officer ad-vanced course, which teachescaptainshowtoleadtroopsandplan operations.“Iwanttobetreatedthesame

way as other officers,” Castrosaid. “Idon’twantthemtotakepity overme or giveme some-thing I’ve not earned.”Castroismarriedandthefa-

ther of a 14-year-old son.

BlindContinued frompage A1

Theweather forecast on theday of the SciTanic called forpartly cloudy skies with a 30percent chance of showers, ahighnear90andclearandcool-er that evening with tempera-tures inthe lower60s.TheSci-Tanic accident is oneof severaldestructive incidents in theHuntsville area attributed to amicroburst, a weather phe-nomenon characterized by ex-treme wind shifts and unpre-dictability.A 250-ton crane at the in-

termodal facility at HuntsvilleInternational Airportwas top-

pled by a microburst in July1993.Violentwindspushedthegiant wheeled crane down atrack at 30 mph until it col-lapsedwhenstrikingabumperstop.TheroofofasouthHuntsville

apartmentcomplexwasrippedapart by a microburst in July2003, displacing 38 residents.LocalauthorHomerHickam

wellremembersthatJulydayin1984 when the SciTanic wasblown over in the TennesseeRiver nearHobbs Island.HickamwasatDittogetting

ready to gowater-skiingwhenthe weather suddenly turnedwicked.Hewasflyingearlier ina Cessna and returned to theRedstone Arsenal Airfield be-cause of a sudden wall cloud.Thethreateningweatherquick-lydissipatedsohekepthisriver-outingplans for the afternoon.“When I got down to Ditto,

Iwas there only a fewminuteswhentherewasthissuddentor-rential downpour and highwinds,”Hickam saidMonday.Hickam reflected on the or-

dealalongwithCityRecreationServices worker Mick Roney,who helped Hickam that day

diving for victims.Thestorm“wentawayjustas

quickly as it came in,” Hickamsaid.“Someonestartedscream-ing that there was a passengerboatthathadoverturnedontheriver.Myfriendswiththespeed-boat–weracedoutofthereandfound the SciTanic upsidedown.”Roneywas also at themari-

natendingtohisboat. “Itstart-edoutnice andpleasant and itjustblewinrealquickbeforeyouknew it,” he said. Roney tookshelterinhiscar,emergingmin-utes later after the squall hadpassed.That’swhenhenoticedseveral boats racing out of themarina ignoring the no-wakezone. A marine police officerasked him to hop in the patrolboat after Roney told him he

had lifeguard credentials andhadmedictrainingintheArmy.Hickam, then a NASA em-

ployee and scuba diving in-structor,andRoney,thenalife-guard and swim coach, wereamong the first to arrive at thecapsized SciTanic.Acquaintances through

swimming circles, they soonfound themselves tag-teaminginthewaterinafrantichuntforsurvivors.WithHickam in scuba gear

and Roney using goggles andfreediving,thepairswaminandoutofthedarkenedriverboattofree bodies and look for mira-cles.Hickamkickedoutawindow

and severely cut his armwhileclearingoutthebrokenglassforaccess.

Together, theybeganpullingout victims and swimmingthemtopsidetorescueworkerson the overturned keel.Roney said Hickam soon

warnedhimnottoentertheup-side down boat.“He said the floors weren’t

madetobeceilings,”Roneysaid.Roney said the SciTanic ac-

cident andhishaving seen twomicroburst-like events makehimkeenlyawareofthedangerofmicrobursts.“They can come up with no

warning,”hesaid.“Youwonder,sometimes.WhenIfindmyselfout on the river or in an openarea and a stormblows in, youwonderifitwillberightonyou.”

CapsizingContinued frompage A1

Mick Roney, left, and HomerHickam helped recover bodies.

Photos courtesy of the family

Josiah Miller visiting the Blue Angels display at the Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla.

as Panoply and the BlackArts Festival. He’s put uphundreds of tents duringhis91⁄2yearsinthebusinessbut has never seen an ac-cident like this, he said.Within seconds, about

400linearfeetoftentshadfallen. Just 40 feet down,the wind loosened thestakes on another set oftentsbut theyheld fast, hesaid.The air-conditioning

units were sitting on theground outside the tents,but the powerful windmanaged toblowoneunitontopof5-year-oldJosiahMiller, killing him at thescene.Whitman said his

thoughts are prayers arewithMiller’sfamily,andde-scribedFriday’saccidentasoneofthe“mosttragicmo-ments” of his life.“I keep going back and

thinking, ‘What could Ihave done? What could Ihave done?’ And there’snothing.”

NothingContinued frompage A1

From staff reports

A seven-year-old Madison boy injured atAirshow2008wasinseriousconditionMon-day night atHuntsvilleHospital.Matthew Pepper was injured when a mi-

croburst damaged a tent Sunday at the showatHuntsville International Airport.Hewasamong12peoplehospitalizedwith

injuriesfromtheincident;the11othervictimshave been released, according to hospitalspokeswoman SueEsslinger.

Boy, 7, hurt at show in serious condition

“They (Josiah andhis mother) wereattached at the hip.Oh, she is going tomiss him so much.They did everythingtogether. And Jason,(his dad) too.”

Marta NewbyJosiah’s grandmother