Sanders family gifted another side of Kennedy with recovery of missing phone
Thanks to the intense curiosity of a soldier at a U.S. Military base in remote Jordan, Oneida Oliver-Sanders and Shawn Sanders have more precious memories of their late daughter, Sgt. Kennedy L. Sanders.
The memories came courtesy of their daughter’s cellphone, an item they and the military believed were lost in the January 29, 2024, drone strike at Tower 22 in Jordan which killed Sgt. Sanders and two fellow soldiers.
“We never expected to see her phone,” Sgt. Sanders mother said last week. “We were told it wasn’t recovered and likely destroyed in the explosion.
“It was a miracle it was found. And then for us to get it back. We were shocked.”
The family received the phone in the mail the middle of last month. It’s return was the result of the efforts of Staff Sgt. Zachary Winthers, 29, of the Illinois Army National Guard. The soldier had been stationed at Tower 22 since last summer before rotating back home to North Aurora, Ill.
While deployed, Winthers worked in the base’s administrative area making sure the daily needs of troops were met. It also had a “lost-andfound” where Winthers first noticed the phone.
The soldier posted occasional messages on the camp’s open communication channels about the phone hoping its owner would respond. He also was unable to locate a way to charge the device.
As the end of his deployment in neared in April, the phone still was unclaimed. Winthers received permission from his unit’s First Sergeant to take the phone home with him and continue his search for its owner.
Back home, Winthers was able to charge the phone, which set its transfer to the Sanders family in motion. Although containing a pass code, the phone’s list of emergency contacts was accessible.
The phone’s owner, Kennedy Sanders, didn’t spark a thought from his deployment. This was despite him seeing the name on the memorial at Tower 22 to Sanders and fallen Georgia comrades Sgt. Breonna Moffett of Savannah and Sgt. William Rivers of Carrollton.
Another hurdle came in the contact list: They all were nicknames.
The first two, however, stood out: “Mama Bear” and “Papa Bear.” Each had a number, and his thought it was for the phone owner’s parents.
He called the one for “Mama Bear” and Oliver-Sanders answered.
That was the evening of May 6. Winthers had the phone in the mail to Waycross the next day.
Oliver-Sanders said the family’s anxiety for the phone’s arrival was compounded by the fact they own adjacent houses on Kennedy Sanders Way. They kept checking the mailbox around the time they expected the phone to arrive, but nothing.
“We were so anxious to get it,” Oliver-Sanders said, “but nothing. Something just hit me to look in the mailbox next door and there it was.”
A relative had the phone’s passcode, a variation of Kennedy’s June, 30, 1999 birthdate, so access was quick.
Her mother said since the phone’s arrival the family been given a window into their loved one’s life in her military environment through videos, phones and written messages.
“We’ve looked at videos, pictures and seen the conversations she’s had,” her mother said. “There were several videos we hadn’t seen before. One was her critiquing a movie. Another was interviewing friends.
“We’ve been able to ‘see her in action’ so to speak. We’re so grateful.”
The phone arrived at a time when Olivia and Shawn are heavily involved with efforts of the foundation they initiated to honor Kennedy’s memory.
There are service projects, awards and stipends distributed all through the Ware County School System. Scholarships are awarded to high school students, one to a member of the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. Oliver-Sanders is a former member of the Ware County Board of Education.
The City of Waycross renamed its Outstanding Citizen Award last year to honor Sgt. Sanders, and a handful of those have been presented in the past month by city officials.
When not in the hands of one of the family, the phone is in a curio cabinet with other items of significance from Kennedy’s past.
“(Phone) is not something we ever thought would be part of that,” Oliver-Sanders said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this report.
