Mom wants answers on son's death in Iraq

Mother wants answers in soldier’s death
Son had ‘hard life’ growing up in Hawaii

By Stephen Dick


Eugene D.M. Kanakaole was only in Iraq for a month when he was found dead June 11. According to his mother, Kristine Rene Blades, who lived for a time in Anderson, the cause of death was a single gun shot wound to the head.


The Department of Defense is calling the death “non-combat.”

“I don’t believe my son killed himself,” Blades said.

Kanakaole, 19, was part of the 87th Engineer Company, 8th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade from Fort Hood, Texas.

She added that the Department of Defense is investigating her son’s death. “I don’t want it swept under the rug,” she said.

The day after Kanakaole died, Blades said she received a visit from her other son, David, his father and an uncle who told her of Eugene’s death. Her reaction to the news “was not good.”
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