Isle man among 4
killed by Iraqi mobThe contractor was worried
about going but wanted to help
Wesley Batalona was unsure whether he wanted to go back to Iraq after a month off on the Big Island from security duty, a relative said.
Pearl Batalona, wife of his uncle Jacob, said Batalona did not directly say why he felt that way after two months with Blackwater Security Consulting in Iraq. But Pearl Batalona said her conclusion was, "He didn't like what he saw there."
But he also said he wanted to go to Iraq to serve its community. "He thought he could go over and help," she said, noting that in general he presented a picture of a low level of danger.
Wesley Batalona, 48, was the last victim identified in the gruesome killing of four civilians in Iraq this week. He was a Big Island native who joined the military out of high school and returned to the Hamakua Coast several years ago after a career as an Army Ranger.
Batalona's family was informed late Thursday that he was one of the four American civilian contractors killed in Fallujah, Iraq, his older sister, Uilani Shibata, of Honokaa, said yesterday.
Batalona; Jerko "Jerry" Zovko, 32; Michael Teague, 38; and Scott Helvenston, 38, were killed in an ambush Wednesday, their charred bodies mutilated and dragged through the streets. The contractors were working for Blackwater Security when their vehicle was hit by rocket-propelled grenades.
Shibata said Batalona's wife, June, was told of her husband's death while she was at work late Thursday.
"I had a phone call from my sister-in-law's (June's) brother, because one of the military guys had to go down to her working place and tell her," Shibata said in a telephone interview.
Batalona had worked security at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Kohala Coast before going to Iraq this year.
"I told him not to go," Shibata said.
Wesley Batalona was low key about the dangers he faced in Iraq, said Pearl Batalona. "It was not like he was in the military. They were not in the war zone, but they do travel the roads," she said.
Wesley Batalona was one of 10 children, and Shibata said she and her husband raised him until he joined the Army in 1974 after graduating from Honokaa High School, where he was student body president.
"We gave him two choices: Either go to school and become a policeman, or join the service," she said. "My husband was in the airborne, and he pretty much looked up to my husband."
Batalona was stationed for much of his career in Georgia, where his daughter now goes to college, Shibata said.
"He loved his family very much, his wife and his daughter," she said.
Former Hawaii County Councilman Takashi Domingo said he served years ago as a "home teacher" for the Mormon Church, and Batalona, in his early teens, was his companion.
"He was a good boy, very obedient," Domingo said. He was a good all-around athlete, a quiet person, yet he had lots of friends, Domingo said.
But when Batalona returned to Honokaa a few years ago after years of military service, although he had a sense of accomplishment about his service, something else was apparently missing, Domingo said.
Batalona said he was "finding the truth" or "finding a place," Domingo said. "In his own mind, what he had wasn't satisfactory as far as a spiritual basis."
Batalona attended Mormon services a few times but did not show the old commitment.
Domingo thinks the regular routine of driving 40 miles from his home in Paauilo to a security job at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, then driving back at night, might have gotten stale for him.
Blackwater Security, based in Moyock, N.C., provides security training and guard services to customers around the world. Gary Jackson, president, and two other company leaders are former Navy SEAL commandos.
A statement on the company's Web site said officials were grieving for the employees.
"Our tasks are dangerous, and while we feel sadness for our fallen colleagues, we also feel pride and satisfaction that we are making a difference for the people of Iraq," the statement said.
Star-Bulletin reporter Rod Thompson and Janis L. Magin, of the Associated Press in Honolulu, contributed to this report.