The son of a D.C. restaurant owner was one of six American troops killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan in December -- and on Friday the restaurateur spoke for the first time about the devastating loss.
Air Force Staff Sergeant Peter Taub, 30, was killed in a suicide attack Dec. 21 near Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.
He was a disciplined Airman who had a passion to protect his country, and he was a jokester too, his mother, Arlene Wagner said. Wagner owns Bub and Pops, an acclaimed restaurant and sandwich shop on M Street NW in downtown D.C.
"One of the things he loved was to be in his suit, and he said, 'Mom I would just put my leg up on the desk like that and everybody would see these bright-colored polka dot socks," Wagner said in the bustling restaurant.
Taub, who was married and had a young child, deployed to Afghanistan on Oct. 11. Wagner said she will never forget their last conversation, in December.
"We were on Skype probably for about a half hour," she said.
Days later, on Dec. 21, life changed in an instant.
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"I was working in the back office and he just came tearing to the back and said, 'Mom, Pete was killed,'" Wagner said about her son Jonathan Taub, Peter Taub's only brother.
"All I can remember is standing up and screaming," she said.
Taub was one of six American troops killed.
"Everything stops. It feels surreal. It's hard to breathe," she said.
Taub was awarded a Purple Heart and a Combat Action Ribbon. He died with honor, but his family said nothing can mask their pain.
"I have to tell you, at the counter, most of the time I have a veneer on," Taub said.
The family said they're using their popular restaurant as a welcome distraction from their pain, and they know Taub's spirit lives on.
