BENWOOD - In Kelly Foster's front yard is a sign - ''We love our soldier'' - that was meant to greet her nephew, Spc. Julian Berisford, upon his arrival home from the war in Afghanistan.
But as Ohio Valley residents learned in November, Berisford, 25, didn't get to see that sign. He died Nov. 4 when insurgents ambushed his unit, fatally wounding him.
Foster, who considered Berisford more of a son than a nephew, isn't ready to take down the banner.
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BERISFORD
''It's hard to put into words. If you look back at 25 years, he was proudest to be a father and a husband. He was just a big family man. It was real hard on him to leave everybody because we're a close family,'' Foster said while sitting in her living room at her Fisher Lane home.
Foster was accompanied by Berisford's wife, Gina Marie; his mother, Shelley Guthrie; his friend, Spc. Jordan Martinez; and Foster's daughter, Randi Jo Chavanak. And before it was time for her to go to bed, Mya - the Berisfords' 13-month-old daughter - wandered around the room in a carefree manner.
Julian Berisford, formerly of Benwood and Moundsville, was a member of the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division based in Fort Richardson, Alaska. He enlisted in 2007 and was deployed to Afghanistan in March 2009.
Gina Berisford remembers meeting her husband through a college roommate. They were classmates during their college days at West Liberty University and they dated for seven months before marrying on Dec. 31, 2007.
''He just kind of showed up one day,'' Gina said. ''All of sudden he kept hanging around. I was like, who is this kid?
''Pretty much, we never really left each other's side during that time, because you've such a short amount of time before he left,'' she said of Julian leaving for boot camp. ''You try to squeeze so much in.''
Because they were not supposed to speak over the phone while he was at boot camp, they wrote letters to each other. That's when, Gina said, they really began to fall in love.
''One time he called and he was in a closet on some chaplain's phone. He whispered, 'I'm in the closet, I can't talk long,''' Gina said. ''He was always really good with surprises like that. He loved coming home and not telling me and just showing up.''
She noted the family has been surprised by the outpouring of support shown by the community, especially when Julian's body was brought back home. Hundreds of people lined W.Va. 2 to show their respect.
''I never thought in a million years it would be so much. He never realized how many lives he touched. He never even knew it,'' Gina said. ''He would have been throwing a fit to have that much attention. He wasn't that attention guy. ... He would have been like, 'This is too much.' ... He wanted to go there because he wanted to protect families like ours. That was a real important thing to him.''
Julian, she noted, never craved recognition but still was ''that guy that everyone loved.''
''People couldn't get enough of him,'' Gina said.
Guthrie remembers her son being ''a beautiful baby.''
''He was very sensitive. He was a man's man, but he was sensitive - even when he was little. ... He always had a patriotic side to him,'' Guthrie said, noting Julian's grandfather and uncle also served in the military.
Now the family is trying to find a way to move forward.
''This is it. This is what we do - talk about Julian,'' Guthrie said.
Foster said the family members are not letting each other grieve alone.
''It was definitely our worst nightmare. We have to hold onto our memories and try to get through this as a family,'' Foster said. ''He would want us to stick together.''