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ELK RIDGE — Saturday night, Army officials confirmed that the remains found after an explosive device detonated in Afghanistan were those of a missing Utah County soldier.
Cody Towse, Army Private First Class, was reported missing after a powerful improvised explosive device in Afghanistan detonated where he was standing, killing four people. The military informed the family Tuesday that they had been unable to locate the 21-year-old solider, and updated his status Saturday night to killed in action.
The details of his body's return to Utah were still pending Saturday night.
"Nobody should have to bury their child," Jim Towse said.
He said his oldest son was also his best friend. They both listened to music from the 60's and 70's, particularly The Beatles, worked together and loved to hangout which each other.
"He was my boy. He was me. I love old cars, he loves old cars," Jim Towse said. "It seems like everything I love, he loved. Our favorite place is In-n-Out (Burger). My phone is just full of hours and hours of music (that Cody downloaded)."
Cody loved to help people and became an EMT the day after he turned 18. He also became a firefighter.
On his personal blog, he wrote just a few weeks before he died that he wanted people to know he loved them.
"I never really tell people that I appreciate them. There are a lot of really great people in my life that made it a whole lot better, I just wish I'd told them more often," Cody wrote. "Not that I plan on dying, because I can totally just tell them later, but that's just something that I've been thinking about lately."
Towse also left a touching quote from A.A. Milne's character Winnie the Pooh: "If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever."
Cody also loved long-boarding, which sometimes involved accidents. It's something Jim Towse said his son was good at.
He recalled one time Cody ended up in Primary Children's Medical Center for a week after a longboard crash. But he was spotted longboarding again before his cast was off.
Cody also fell 17 feet out of a tree once and his father thought he had suffered fatal injuries. On another occasion, Cody almost drowned while trying to follow his father out into a lake.
"He thought he was invincible," his father recalled with a smile.
Cody Towse was never worried about being in Afghanistan, believing the worst for U.S. troops was over.
"He thought things were winding down, definitely. He wasn't scared," his father said.
The last time Jim Towse talked to his son, Cody told him that the terrorists were too chicken to come out and fight.
"Which is true. They're too chicken to fight. But they're not too chicken to plant a big bomb that will blow everybody up. But he wasn't worried. He loved it," his father said.
Jim Towse said he wants people to remember all the soldiers overseas, and to remember that the war is not over. Outside the Towse house now, Jim Towse has created a memorial for his son using combat boots and a helmet that Cody left behind the last time he was home.
"I wish everybody that had a flag would put it out. For Cody," he said.
The residents in his home of Elk Ridge didn't forget. Flags were put up all around the neighborhood and local businesses put messages on their marquees to Cody. Jim Towse said he has been overwhelmed by the show of support for his son.
"I'm overwhelmed," Jim Towse said. "Seeing a flag at half mast, it just tugs at my heart."
