A TRAGIC US soldier spent his final hours reassuring his family that he was okay before being killed in an Iranian strike, his dad has revealed.
Sgt Declan Coady, 20, from Des Moines, Iowa, was one of six Army Reserve troops killed last Saturday amid retaliatory strikes from Tehran.
The former Drake University student had been sending his loved ones steady updates in the hours before his death.
It comes as…
But following the outbreak of war in the Middle East and the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Declan was killed while supporting Operation Epic Fury, the Department of War said.
He was serving at the Port of Shauiba in Kuwait when the fatal blitz hit.
Declan was the youngest of the fallen soldiers, and had previously enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2023 as an information technology specialist.
His heartbroken dad Andrew said his family had learned of US casualties shortly after waking up on Sunday morning.
But at first, he didn’t think his son was involved, since Declan had spoken to his brother – who was in Italy – earlier on the same day.
Andrew said: “Declan just was checking in with him, and the reason being is Declan is nine hours ahead of us.
“He was two hours ahead of his brother, so he called his brother.
“Declan had been sending us updates every one to two hours, like, ‘Hey, everything’s still good. I’m good.’
“Which goes to show you, you know, he was thinking about us. Like, ‘Don’t worry about me’ and so forth.”
Andrew suspects Declan’s operation center was likely hit shortly after the call with his brother.
The grieving dad added: “At the time, my wife had sent another message to him… and we didn’t hear back.
“They may not always be able to respond, but I will say most of us started to [worry].
“Your gut starts to get a feeling. We go to bed fairly early, so we got ready Sunday night to go to bed, and we had just turned the lights off and went into the bedroom and the doorbell rang at 8pm.”
Declan had been scheduled to return home from Kuwait in May.
“There was a request for the role that he could do and fill, that a new unit was coming in and didn’t have so many in that slot, and if he’d be willing to extend nine more months,” Andrew said.
“So, we were discussing that, pros and cons. He hadn’t made a decision yet.”
Andrew also recalled a conversation he had had with his son, where Declan told him how previous jobs did not compare to life in the army.
He said: “But one thing he did say is that: ‘You know, I haven’t had a lot of jobs, but I’ve had jobs in the civilian world, and I’ve been over here for six months, and I work 12-plus hour days.
“‘I work six to seven days a week,’ and he goes, ‘I love it.’”
Declan could have stayed and continued attending university, where he was studying cybersecurity and information systems, Andrew said.
The student had also graduated from the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).
But he decided to redeploy with his unit and continued online classes in Kuwait.
Andrew said his son had “planned it out” and was “adamant” that he would go with his unit.
Just one week before the fatal attack, Declan had called Andrew to let him know that he had been recommended for a promotion – from specialist to sergeant, a rank he received after his death.
His sister Keira said she remembered the day her brother left for Kuwait.
Sharing images of Declan with the family cat, Keira said: “This was the morning before we dropped him off for him to leave.
“He was our cat Autumn‘s favourite. She’d sit in his room while he would game for hours and beg for attention, and he would give it to her.
“He’s 20. He was going to be 21 in two months.”
She added that the shock hadn’t yet subsided, saying: “I still don’t fully think it’s real.
“I didn’t think it was real when they told us.
“I just remember all of our conversations about what he was gonna do when he came back.
“And, so, I’ll just be sitting and thinking about it. It’s just, it’s really hard.
“I didn’t have the same call this weekend that my dad and like my brother did [with Declan].
“I just really wish I got to tell him I love you one more time because he was just so amazing.”
She added: “I can’t help but think, just, he was my little brother, and he was probably really scared even if he didn’t want people to know.
“I wish he could have known one more time that we all loved him because he was so amazing and kind.
“He was just like the best little brother you could have.”
It comes as Iran continues to launch strikes across the Gulf states in the wake of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s assassination one week ago.
Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and several others have been intercepting drones and missiles amid the spiralling conflict.
