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When a chaplain and captain knocked on Doreatha Noziska's door late Monday night, she knew her worst fears had been realized.
“It was devastating,” she said Tuesday from her home in Grand Island, Neb. “They wanted to come in, and I told them no, because I knew.”
Her son, Army 2nd Lt. Mark Noziska, was killed Monday in an explosion in Afghanistan. The Papillion-La Vista High School graduate was 24 years old.
Because two soldiers were killed in the attack, the Army is waiting to confirm the death until DNA testing is completed.
But Mark Noziska's mother isn't holding out any hope.
“Their chances of making a mistake are nil to none. His captain was there when it happened, and he knows,” she said.
Family members gathered Tuesday in Grand Island. Mark's brother, Troy, had driven from Grand Island to La Vista to deliver the news in person to his sister, Tracy. It was 1 or 1:30 in the morning when he called her from her front lawn to say they needed to talk.
She, her boyfriend and two sons all drove back with Troy to grieve as a family.
“It hasn't really hit home,” said Troy Noziska. “It's like a nightmare for us.”
Mark Noziska's family remembers him as someone who lived life to the fullest.
Troy Noziska remembers his brother going waterskiing — still wearing the leg cast from a basketball injury just days earlier.
Mark Noziska was born in Grand Island. His family moved to La Vista before his ninth grade year.
He graduated from Papillion-La Vista High School in 2004, the same year he earned the title of “Mr. Monarch” in the student council's main fundraiser.
It was during high school he found his passion for the military, his mother said, and enlisted in the Army National Guard.
He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2008 with a degree in criminal justice, then joined the Army.
Last year, he bought a house in Colorado Springs. The outdoor enthusiast could see Pike's Peak from his porch, his mother said, and took his family to the summit when they visited last year.
Tracy Noziska said she hopes her older son, Calvin, will remember his uncle.
“He was always making people laugh and smile,” she said. “He was just an awesome guy. I hope my kids look up to him.”
The family is making plans to go to Dover, Del., to claim the body.
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