A 27-year-old U.S. Army infantryman from the South Side Pullman neighborhood was killed Friday by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.
Albert Ware fled his native Liberia, which has been gripped by Civil War, when he was 12 years old. Nine years later, and following the September 11, 2001 attacks on America, he signed up to serve his adopted country. His death in Afghanistan was his second tour in that country.
His mother, father and sister said they'd just spoke to Ware the night before he died. Always generous, the family said Ware was making plans with his father to buy her a gift in his absence.
"I said, 'OK, call me tomorrow,' which was Friday. And that was the call that I got, which was four guys coming to tell me my son is dead," his father, Thomas Ware, recalled.
"He spoke to each one of us, and we shared our love. It was a normal conversation. I was trying to get from him a list of what his unit needed, because my job wanted to send him a care package," added his mother, Anna Ware.
The Corliss High School graduate was in the military for six years. He spent 2 1/2 years in the National Guard and then went full time in the Army. He was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and had begun his second tour last August.
"My big brother was my hero. (He was) the perfect role model," said Ciatta Ware.
Ware leaves behind a wife, Plichette, and three children, T'john, Heaven and Musu.
A tribute to him will be added to a monument honoring fallen soldiers that stands in the neighborhood.
