Even after years, people fondly remembered Donald Hasse . "He was one of those guys you can depend on and also put a smile on your face," remarked William Annussek, who served with him. "Everybody just loved him," says his dad Frederick Hasse . "He was good, well rounded. If somebody was down he would be over there picking spirits up. If he was down, he never showed it."
Hasse 's mother was angry when she heard he was returning for a second tour in Iraq. "He told me I couldn't be angry because he was doing what he was supposed to be doing," said Beth Todd.
"Total sunshine," is how Todd described him. "He didn't talk about the good things he was going to do - he did them."
Hasse and Darrin Zdanowski became friends in high school. "We would play basketball, chase girls, just everything we could without getting into trouble," he said. Hasse 's ability to find fun wasn't unknown to his mother, she said. "If there was a party, he was going to be there," she said and laughed.
"He believed he was doing the right thing for the country," Hasse 's father said. "He died knowing he was doing something that counts toward to the rest of the world."
