PFC Wyatt Eisenhauer , 2nd Battalion, 70th Armored, 1st Armored Division, May 19, 2005

Friends and acquaintances described PFC Wyatt Eisenhauer as "sponge-like" in his ability to pick things up. He was that way in learning to play the guitar, in studying auto mechanics, and in devouring the technical manuals that outlined his duties as a military scout. Barely 11 months into the Army, fellow soldiers described him as "one of the most technically proficient scouts in the platoon."

A resident of Pinckneyville, Ill., Eisenhauer did not fit the mold of the typical soldier. For one thing, he was older: a 26-year-old private. He had attended Southern Illinois University on scholarships, winning one of them during a diesel equipment technology competition, and a second for his guitar playing. John Croessman, managing editor of his hometown newspaper, described Eisenhauer as "a quick study" whose "extreme intelligence allowed him to master anything he looked at. Then he moved on." Dyslexic, Eisenhauer mastered the guitar as an alternative way of acquiring knowledge. "He'd seen something or heard something and he absorbed it because he couldn't depend on reading it," his mother, Gay Eisenhauer , said. "There wasn't anything he couldn't master."

The fact that he loved challenges took him to the Army, and specifically to the physical and mental challenges the Rangers represented. Commendation followed upon commendation.

Eisenhauer died May 19, 2005, as his unit, the 2nd Battalion, 70th Armored, 1st Armored Division, conducted convoy security operations in Mahmudiyah. An improvised explosive device was the cause of his death.

Following his death, his parents, Fred and Gay Eisenhauer , established a memorial fund as part of a website they created in Wyatt 's name.