Fight over a soldier's final resting place continues

It's one of the most emotionally painful battles you can imagine, two parents, in two different parts of the country fighting over where to bury their soldier son, killed in Iraq. <br/><br/>The News

Monday, February 27th 2006, 10:40 am

By: News On 6

It's one of the most emotionally painful battles you can imagine, two parents, in two different parts of the country fighting over where to bury their soldier son, killed in Iraq.

The News on 6, last updated you on the story of Staff Sgt Jason Hendrix in November. A judge ruled his body should stay buried in Oklahoma, now the case is headed back to court.

News on 6 reporter Heather Lewin shows us what Hendrix's father is doing to try to keep his body here. Hendrix family friend, Danna Malone: â€œWe had hoped beyond our wildest hopes that it was gonna be over, but we honestly did not believe it was gonna be over." It's been more than a year since Staff Sgt Jason Hendrix was killed in action by a roadside bombing in Iraq. Since then, his divorced parents, mother in California where he spent much of his childhood and father Russell Hendrix in Claremore, where he lived and attended high school, have been locked in a bitter dispute over where he should be buried.

The battle's dragged on so long, Hendrix is nearly bankrupt. Friends say he's sacrificing everything just to keep his son Jason in Oklahoma. Including selling his 1979 Porche 911 on eBay. A car, Malone says he saved for for 10 years and now hopes will raise enough money to cover legal expenses. Danna Malone: "We're just finding ourselves in a major financial situation." She says it's more than just a car, owning it was a dream father and son shared. The two talked and planned. Hendrix was finally able to buy it while Jason was overseas. Danna Malone: â€œJason never saw it, but he had pictures of it with him in Iraq, he had plans of coming home and his Dad picking him up in the Porsche." Now his son will never see it and Hendrix has to let it go. Danna Malone: â€œTo keep Jason home. This is where he belongs."

Local family and friends are starting a group called Jason's Peace, an organization to raise money to pay past and future legal expenses, to keep Hendrixâ€™s body from being exhumed. Hendrix's mother has filed another appeal to have her son buried in California.

For more information about Jasonâ€™s Peace, you can call 918-406-4115 or write them at PO Box 1431, Owasso, Oklahoma 74055