FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The body of Air Force Maj. Kenneth Bourland has been found in the rubble of the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, officials confirmed Tuesday.
Bourland, 37, had been missing since the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. Minutes before it struck, he exchanged e-mails with his wife, Peggy, in Weston. When she heard about the quake, she went back to her computer.
“Please tell me you’re OK,” she wrote.
But the five-story hotel was leveled. Bourland’s body was found Sunday and flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. His remains were positively identified Monday.
“We just ask that everyone pray for the family and remember them in this difficult time,” said his brother-in-law, Bobby Greer, who referred calls to the U.S. Southern Command in Miami.
Bourland worked at Southern Command as the Caribbean desk officer. He was in Haiti with Lt. Gen. Ken Keen and four others from Southern Command, all of whom survived.
“His expertise and contributions helped SouthCom
strengthen existing partnerships with defense and security counterparts
across the Caribbean,” said Southern Command spokesman Robert Appin.
Bourland was scheduled to be promoted to lieutenant colonel. The Air Force is preparing to act on the promotion posthumously.
In addition to his wife, Bourland is survived by his sons Charley, 3, and Andrew, 16 months; stepson Chance, 14; parents Dennis and Adrienne Bourland, of Cook Springs, Ala., and his sister Kellie Bourland.
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