COLUMBUS, Ind. -- After Army Sgt. Jonathon M. Hunter died in a suicide bombing attack in Afghanistan in August, his family was told to expect a call from President Trump.
None came.
Hunter, 23, was a Columbus High School graduate who joined the Army in 2014. He was one of two American service members killed on August 2 when a suicide bomber targeted their convoy. He was only 32 days into his first deployment.
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Jonathon's father, Mark Hunter, said a military casualty officer informed the family that a call would come from the president and the family was let down when that did not happen.
“Disappointed that he at least didn’t call and thank me for my son and our ultimate sacrifice,” Mark said. “That’s all I wanted to hear. He didn't have to say anything else. That’s all I wanted to hear. From him — not the vice president.”
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The family spoke with Vice President Mike Pence, who grew up in the same southern Indiana city, at the ceremony honoring the return of the soldier’s remains at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
"At the dignified transfer in Dover I was extremely honored to have Vice President Pence there," Sgt. Hunter's wife, Whitney, told CNN. "He spent a great deal of time talking to me and it wasn't an uncomfortable type of thing. He really was just a genuine human being and he shared his condolences and he talked to me like he knew me forever so it meant a lot to have him there."
Whitney said shortly after her husband's body was returned to the U.S., the White House called and said she needed to keep her phone nearby for the next few days because President Trump was going to call - but he never did.
"I don't have anything negative to say directly about the president, but my husband died for our country, he died four our nation - in defense of our nation and I don't want that to have been in vain or to be taken for granted," said Whitney. "I do know the difference between right and wrong and whenever you say you're going to do something you're supposed to do it and I want people to know that, if you say you're going to do something then do it."
Whitney said she received a certificate signed by the president, but did not receive any personal communication from President Trump.
"Just knowing that he was grateful for the sacrifice of my husband and for Christopher Harris - it would have been a tremendous honor to have heard that from the President," said Whitney.
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