Memorial Day will have a special and sad meaning for the family of slain “American Sniper” Chris Kyle, whose killer was sentenced to life in prison in February.
In a new autobiography being teased by publisher HarperCollins, his wife, Taya Kyle details the last day with her husband that ended with this exchange:
“Hey!” I said. “I was looking for you!”
“I was looking for you!” he said.
“I just wanted to say good-bye.”
I hugged him.
“Me, too.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said.
On February 2, 2013 the celebrated American hero and his wife attended a kids basketball game then he and a friend took an unknown vet in need of counseling to a gun range where former Marine Cpl. Eddie Ray Routh killed Kyle.
In the preface of American Wife: A Memoir of Love, Service, Faith, and Renewal posted on the publisher’s website, Taya Kyle concludes, “I gave him a quick kiss and a hug — something we tried to always do when we left the house — and went out to the SUV to take the girls to the mall. That was the last time I saw my husband, my best friend, my hero, alive.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
