Military family buries second son in 4 months

Military family buries second son in 4 months
By Gabriel Alexander / Independent Staff Writer
Friday, Apr. 11, 2008

Less than four months after burying a son who died in Afghanistan, the Eischen family was again surrounded by the Clovis community during the funeral of their remaining son Drew "Joey" Eischen.

Nearly 500 people crowded New Hope Community Church April 9, filling the adjacent youth center where the funeral service was shown on television screens.

Blue ribbons -- instead of the yellow ribbons used for Eischen's older brother -- marked the funeral route from the small, white church to the Clovis Cemetery where Eischen was buried with military honors.

Eischen, 22, died April 2 at Community Regional Medical Center after his parents found him unresponsive in his bedroom after a night of partying with friends, according to Tim Rolen, a family friend and the pastor of New Hope.

Rolen also led the funeral of Eischen's older brother Senior Airman Nick Eischen, 24, who died Christmas Eve while serving in the U.S. Air Force. Preliminary reports, which were released in late March, said the older Eischen died of a heart defect although the family is waiting for a final report from the Department of Defense.

Rolen said the younger Eischen was devastated when Nick Eischen died, although he showed a brave face during the funeral arrangements, taking the lead in organizing the service and acting as a family spokesperson.

"You're in your 20s and your brother dies and you wonder why," Rolen said. "I think he shouldered too much responsibility, and no one was responsible."

Because of the loss of his brother, Joey Eischen was discharged from the Army where he was a private stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.
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The family is not sure if it was suicide or not.