Family remembers their soldier son

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Gene and Dona lost their son, Sgt. Dale Griffin, to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan earlier this week.

Tuesday night, the Griffins were asleep in bed, when they heard a knock on their door. Dona went to answer the door. She looked through the peep hole and saw two men in uniform. At that moment, the Griffins said they knew their son had passed away.

Griffin died along with six other soldiers, as they traveled with an Afghan interpreter.

Gene and Dona flew to Dover, Delaware, on Wednesday, to witness their son being brought home in a flag draped casket. President Obama saluted Griffin's body as it was taken out of a military plane.

The president met with the Griffin's afterwards and offered his condolences.

"I leaned up to his ear and said 'Mr. President, don't leave our troops hanging,'" Dona Griffin said.

The Griffins returned to Terre Haute on Thursday without their son's body.

"As challenging as it is to do what we did and to leave there. We carry him in our hearts and we know that it is not just a memory of a picture or a video. He truly lives and that he is with his father in heaven," Dona Griffin said.

The war in Afghanistan that was once measured in casualties, now has a face, a name and a family.

"When you don't have someone in your family that is in the military, it is very easy sometimes to forget the sacrifices that are made," Dona Griffin said.

The family has not yet said when Dale’s remains will be brought back to Terre Haute.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to:

The Dale Russel Griffin Memorial Fund 
c/o The Wabash Valley Community Foundation
2901 Ohio Blvd.
Terre Haute, IN
812-232-2234