Master Sgt.FF Michael Hiester -- Iraq

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Master Sgt. Michael Hiester

Firefighters admired volunteer

By Kevin O'Neal

kevin.oneal@indystar.com

March 28, 2005  

When services are held for Michael Hiester, most of the Bluffton Fire Department will attend, and a firetruck will be part of the funeral procession.

The firefighters insist on it -- to honor a volunteer firefighter who worked hard to improve himself and the department.

Master Sgt. Michael Hiester  

"He was a take-charge guy; he was a real smart guy," said Bluffton firefighter Tom Paxson. "Anything he did, he did right."

The death of Hiester, a married father of two children, has hurt the city of about 9,500 people south of Fort Wayne.

"It is a sad time for the whole community," said Bruce Holland, Fire Department chaplain, who officiated at Hiester's wedding 11 years ago.

Like most smaller towns and cities in Indiana, Bluffton gets more of its firefighting strength from volunteers. Hiester was one of the 40 members of the Fire Department; most are not paid full time. Leader of the department's dive team, he was an instructor who also had made himself an expert in ropes and rappelling.

"He could tie you any kind of knot you wanted. He didn't have to look in the book," Paxson said.

Before joining the Fire Department in 1993, Hiester started with the Indiana National Guard in 1989 and had worked full time for the Guard since 1990. He was an operations officer with the 238th Cavalry Regiment and served with that group in Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of the Indiana Guard's peacekeeping assignment.

Hiester served with Capt. Michael "Todd" Fiscus in Bosnia, and they died together in Afghanistan.

"Mike very much believed in the cause for which he gave his life," his wife, Dawn, said in a prepared statement. "His entire family and friends have supported him in his endeavors."

Hiester had planned to finish his military career with the Indiana Guard and become a real estate appraiser in Bluffton.