Army Spc. Doerflinger remembered for caring ways, sacrifice

Published: 2004-11-23

SILVER SPRING, Md. (CNS) -- Army Spc. Thomas Karl Doerflinger, the 20-year-old son of a prominent Catholic pro-life advocate who was killed Nov. 11 while on duty in Iraq, was remembered as son, brother, soldier, student and friend Nov. 19 at a funeral Mass at St. John the Baptist Church in Silver Spring. After the Mass, speakers paid tribute to his gentle and caring ways and his desire to serve his country as a soldier after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. He was the son of Lee Ann and Richard Doerflinger of Silver Spring. Richard Doerflinger is the deputy director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Young Thomas enlisted in the Army after he graduated from Springbrook High School in 2002. Deployed to Iraq Oct. 15, the soldier was part of a unit that was hit by small-arms fire only weeks after he arrived. He died on Veterans Day in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. His funeral Mass drew hundreds, including Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, and Maj. Gen. James M. Collins Jr., of Fort Lewis, Wash., where Thomas Doerflinger had been assigned.

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