The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

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May 8, 2006

Local soldier killed by roadside blast

Jamestown grad will be buried at Arlington

By Tom Davidson

JAMESTOWN — Jeff Polley was sleeping when the police and an Army officer knocked at the door of his home outside Jamestown at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. He said he opened the door, then shut it when he saw the uniforms.

“I said, ‘Oh my God, Carol, oh my God, Carol,’ ” he said.

Carol Polley said she heard her husband screaming.

“I’ll never forget it,” she said. “Of course, my heart sunk. I thought I was still sleeping. I laid there frozen, feeling there’s something wrong.”

They invited the men, two state troopers and an Army officer, inside.

“They just stood there. I said ‘Please tell me my baby is all right,’ ” Mrs. Polley said.

The officer got down on one knee and said, “We regret to inform you that your son has been killed …,” she said.

Sgt. David Veverka was 25. He died in a military hospital near Baghdad a few hours after a roadside blast tore through his convoy.

Sgt. Veverka’s father, Ronald Veverka, found out about 4 a.m. when his son Douglas called to tell him the news. The military was initially given an incorrect address and Ronald Veverka didn’t receive official word until about 7 a.m. Sunday, when an officer knocked at the door.

A Jamestown native, David Veverka was a standout basketball player and a 1999 graduate of Jamestown High. His mother and stepfather live in West Shenango Township, Crawford County. His father and stepmother Judi Veverka live on Sharon’s West Hill. He excelled at school and joined the Army after graduation as a way to help pay for college.

Sgt. Veverka was chosen as a member of the elite Old Guard, which stands watch over the nationally-hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery. He served there for three years.

He will be buried there, his parents said.

He was eight credits shy of his bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology at the University of Maine in Bangor. While there, he joined the Maine National Guard and was activated to serve in Iraq in January and left in mid-March.

His mother described him as someone “who excelled, no matter what he did.”

“He was such a kid to be proud of,” his father said. “He was always the best.”

After graduating Sgt. Veverka wanted to be a marine biologist and he’d already traveled across the country pursuing his interest. He’d wanted to work at San Diego’s Sea World, then pursue graduate studies in Alaska.

While in Iraq, Mrs. Polley said her son had a positive attitude about the war.

“He wasn’t afraid, he was excited to go,” Mrs. Polley said. “He said, ‘Mom, I’m OK, everything’s cool.’ ”

He regularly spoke to his family, including his brothers Keith and Douglas and sister Sandra, on a regular basis with phone calls and via the Internet.

“I never even thought about this,” Ronald Veverka said of dealing with his son’s death. “He told us before he left that this was his calling.”

Serving in the military allowed him to afford to pursue the education he wanted and he felt going to Iraq was something “he had to do,” Ronald Veverka said.

Carol Polley said she felt something was wrong since Friday night, when she couldn’t sleep.

“I worry about David 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week,” Mrs. Polley said.

But throughout Saturday, she said she couldn’t get her son out of her mind. She said she wondered what she would do if something was happening to him.

“That whole day Carol kept asking if Dave was OK,” Polley said.

“I said, ‘What would I do?’ if I saw military men out there,” Mrs. Polley said. “Well, that night I found out. I’m still alive. I’ll never forget those three men standing there.”

“He was the best kid,” Ronald Veverka said. “I don’t understand why they did this. Why do they do it to these good kids?”

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