Slain Soldier Leaves Widow And 8 Children

Diane Badger calls her husband a hero. But she is one, too.

Called to the hospital Friday morning, she learned her husband was dead, killed by a man who was a fellow soldier in the 82nd Airborne Division.

“My heart goes out to the person, because he was obviously distraught,” says Diane Badger, now a widow with eight children, ages 8 to 21. “What drives a man to do that? To turn on his fellow man? I don’t know, but I haven’t walked in his moccasins, so I can only have compassion for him and hope he gets the help he needs.”

Stephen Badger was 38. A Salt Lake City native, he was an intelligence officer in 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Division. He had been with that unit for 10 years. He was a captain on the day he died, promoted posthumously to major.

Two and a half years ago, he married Diane. He had four children from a previous marriage and so did she.

They called themselves “The Badger Bunch.”

“He was a good man,” says Diane Badger, a homemaker. “He was a hero on the inside and the outside.”

She knew when she married a military man, she would have to prepare herself for danger, and perhaps, death. But she did not think he would be killed on his home based by one of his own.

A memorial service for Stephen Badger will be held in Fayetteville. Another one will be held in Salt Lake, where his parents live. He will be buried in Salt Lake.

Diane Badger says: “He cared for his family. He cared for his men. He cared for his country. It was not just a job, it was a calling. He’ll be missed by everybody. He was a neat man. And I look forward to living together with him someday on the other side.”