For ex-chaplain, bin Laden death is bittersweet

Mountain Home residents, many of whom understand the concept of war better than most, applauded the death of Osama bin Laden Sunday, but had mixed feelings about what it meant.

For Tom Westall, a former Air Force chaplain, it was a bittersweet moment. His first thoughts were of the friend he helped bury, Master Sgt. Evander Andrews.

Andrews was a member of the 366th Fighter Wing who became the first servicemember in the nation to die in Operation Enduring Freedom, the attack on the Taliban government of Afghanistan that had harbored and supported bin Laden and al Qaeda.

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