booksbenji
02-11-05, 06:05 PM
:marine:
THIS IS A MARINE'S WIFE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marine widow's pride shines through
07:36 AM CST on Thursday, February 10, 2005
By KARIN SHAW ANDERSON / The Dallas Morning News
MESQUITE, TEXAS – Julie Shumney caught a glimpse of a dark blue sleeve through the window of her Mesquite home and knew what news the Marine had come to deliver.
"It took me a long time to open that door," Mrs. Shumney said.
By then, she was sure her husband, 1st Lt. Dustin Shumney, had been among the 31 servicemen killed when a helicopter crashed Jan. 26 in Iraq.
"I said, 'You don't have good news for me, do you?' " she remembered.
Through her grief, Mrs. Shumney said, she is still glad of her husband's decision to accept a Marine commission and remains proud of his service.
"I think no matter if he was there or somewhere else, God has a plan," she said. "He always knew that it was a possibility that something could happen."
Julie Shumney says she and her children, Mallory 8, Conner, 3, and Jordan, 12, had a premonition about Lt. Shumney's death.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, came four months after Lt. Shumney took his commission.
Mrs. Shumney said the tragedy strengthened her husband's resolve that he had made the right decision.
"We thought that was a way that we could give back," said Mrs. Shumney, who uses the word "we" when talking about her husband's service. Joining the military was something they did as a family, she said.
"My husband and I are very old-fashioned and very traditional in a lot of ways," she said. "It was a lifestyle we wanted."
When they reached the decision, the Shumneys were in their late 20s, with two children and another on the way.
She gave up the business she ran to follow her husband around the country and be home with their children.
Their first station was in Hawaii. The family had asked to go there, but the experience was less than they had hoped.
"It was just a really awful experience and devastating to my kids," Mrs. Shumney said. The family endured months of feeling isolated while Lt. Shumney was deployed on his first tour of the Middle East.
When news of a second deployment came, the family decided to take a trip to Mesquite to visit Mrs. Shumney's sister-in-law.
"We were just going to visit for two weeks, and I fell in love with the people in Texas," she said. "Everybody was so patriotic here. Everybody is so excited to be supportive of something they believe in, and they appreciate what my husband and my children and I sacrificed every day so he can do what he does."
Receiving strength
By the end of the vacation, Mrs. Shumney had decided to stay. The couple bought a house in Mesquite with hopes that the Marine would get stationed nearby when he returned from Iraq.
"The people in Texas gave me the strength that I needed to carry me and my children through, because my husband was going to be gone a whole year," Mrs. Shumney said.
Five days after they picked out a house, Lt. Shumney left for his deployment, but the couple stayed connected through phone calls.
"He always told me what date he was going to call me on and, if I didn't hear from him, to just stay by the phone and kind of keep my ears open and maybe start to worry a little bit, because he always knew when the end of his mission was," Mrs. Shumney said.
During their talks, her husband would tell her of gunbattles and narrow escapes from enemy-controlled buildings.
"We were best friends," she said. "He told me a lot of things, but I knew there were also things he didn't tell me."
He told her of his compassion for the Iraqi people and of choosing not to return fire when children shot at him.
He also told her of a time when, as the platoon leader, he went back into an occupied house to rescue one of his corpsmen.
"I was being selfish," Mrs. Shumney said. "I would get angry. ...
"But at the same time, I know that God has a plan. And he [Lt. Shumney] felt so responsible for each and every Marine. ... I understood, but I didn't want to."
In January, Mrs. Shumney became worried because she hadn't heard from her husband in more than a month. Using a Red Cross service, she sent a message to her husband in the field, asking him to call home.
The next day, he did.
"Then he called me a couple of days later, which was that Friday, the 21st."
Five nights later, the Shumney household was restless.
"I woke up, and I had this really weird sensation throughout my body. I had this tingly feeling from head to toe. I can't describe it," Mrs. Shumney said. "I was laying there, and I heard my daughter talking to somebody, very plainly carrying on a conversation."
Mrs. Shumney went to the next room to soothe her daughter. Then, the couple's youngest child started whimpering in his sleep.
"I went in there and thought, 'Wow, these kids are just full of dreams tonight,' " she said.
"A few minutes go by and my oldest son started crying in his sleep, and he said, 'I love you.' Then he took a gasp of breath and sat up," she said. "It was one right after another for a half-hour straight."
'Preparing us for this'
In the morning, Mrs. Shumney said, she felt an urgency to stay at home but chose not to watch the news. She hadn't heard about the helicopter crash until a friend from Hawaii called. The friend's husband had died in the accident. Mrs. Shumney said she hadn't known the men were in the same unit until the Marine came to her door, but by then, she was expecting the news.
Mrs. Shumney said she was thankful to be in Mesquite, and not Hawaii, to receive the devastating news.
"The last deployment ... was so awful, and the Lord knew I could not go through another one there," she said. "And he just picked us up and put us here. It was like he was preparing us for this to happen."
Although her own family lives in California, Mrs. Shumney said she plans to raise her children in Mesquite.
"We don't want to leave," she said. "This is where he wanted us, and this is what we picked out to do together."
SEMPER FI
books
:marine:
THIS IS A MARINE'S WIFE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marine widow's pride shines through
07:36 AM CST on Thursday, February 10, 2005
By KARIN SHAW ANDERSON / The Dallas Morning News
MESQUITE, TEXAS – Julie Shumney caught a glimpse of a dark blue sleeve through the window of her Mesquite home and knew what news the Marine had come to deliver.
"It took me a long time to open that door," Mrs. Shumney said.
By then, she was sure her husband, 1st Lt. Dustin Shumney, had been among the 31 servicemen killed when a helicopter crashed Jan. 26 in Iraq.
"I said, 'You don't have good news for me, do you?' " she remembered.
Through her grief, Mrs. Shumney said, she is still glad of her husband's decision to accept a Marine commission and remains proud of his service.
"I think no matter if he was there or somewhere else, God has a plan," she said. "He always knew that it was a possibility that something could happen."
Julie Shumney says she and her children, Mallory 8, Conner, 3, and Jordan, 12, had a premonition about Lt. Shumney's death.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, came four months after Lt. Shumney took his commission.
Mrs. Shumney said the tragedy strengthened her husband's resolve that he had made the right decision.
"We thought that was a way that we could give back," said Mrs. Shumney, who uses the word "we" when talking about her husband's service. Joining the military was something they did as a family, she said.
"My husband and I are very old-fashioned and very traditional in a lot of ways," she said. "It was a lifestyle we wanted."
When they reached the decision, the Shumneys were in their late 20s, with two children and another on the way.
She gave up the business she ran to follow her husband around the country and be home with their children.
Their first station was in Hawaii. The family had asked to go there, but the experience was less than they had hoped.
"It was just a really awful experience and devastating to my kids," Mrs. Shumney said. The family endured months of feeling isolated while Lt. Shumney was deployed on his first tour of the Middle East.
When news of a second deployment came, the family decided to take a trip to Mesquite to visit Mrs. Shumney's sister-in-law.
"We were just going to visit for two weeks, and I fell in love with the people in Texas," she said. "Everybody was so patriotic here. Everybody is so excited to be supportive of something they believe in, and they appreciate what my husband and my children and I sacrificed every day so he can do what he does."
Receiving strength
By the end of the vacation, Mrs. Shumney had decided to stay. The couple bought a house in Mesquite with hopes that the Marine would get stationed nearby when he returned from Iraq.
"The people in Texas gave me the strength that I needed to carry me and my children through, because my husband was going to be gone a whole year," Mrs. Shumney said.
Five days after they picked out a house, Lt. Shumney left for his deployment, but the couple stayed connected through phone calls.
"He always told me what date he was going to call me on and, if I didn't hear from him, to just stay by the phone and kind of keep my ears open and maybe start to worry a little bit, because he always knew when the end of his mission was," Mrs. Shumney said.
During their talks, her husband would tell her of gunbattles and narrow escapes from enemy-controlled buildings.
"We were best friends," she said. "He told me a lot of things, but I knew there were also things he didn't tell me."
He told her of his compassion for the Iraqi people and of choosing not to return fire when children shot at him.
He also told her of a time when, as the platoon leader, he went back into an occupied house to rescue one of his corpsmen.
"I was being selfish," Mrs. Shumney said. "I would get angry. ...
"But at the same time, I know that God has a plan. And he [Lt. Shumney] felt so responsible for each and every Marine. ... I understood, but I didn't want to."
In January, Mrs. Shumney became worried because she hadn't heard from her husband in more than a month. Using a Red Cross service, she sent a message to her husband in the field, asking him to call home.
The next day, he did.
"Then he called me a couple of days later, which was that Friday, the 21st."
Five nights later, the Shumney household was restless.
"I woke up, and I had this really weird sensation throughout my body. I had this tingly feeling from head to toe. I can't describe it," Mrs. Shumney said. "I was laying there, and I heard my daughter talking to somebody, very plainly carrying on a conversation."
Mrs. Shumney went to the next room to soothe her daughter. Then, the couple's youngest child started whimpering in his sleep.
"I went in there and thought, 'Wow, these kids are just full of dreams tonight,' " she said.
"A few minutes go by and my oldest son started crying in his sleep, and he said, 'I love you.' Then he took a gasp of breath and sat up," she said. "It was one right after another for a half-hour straight."
'Preparing us for this'
In the morning, Mrs. Shumney said, she felt an urgency to stay at home but chose not to watch the news. She hadn't heard about the helicopter crash until a friend from Hawaii called. The friend's husband had died in the accident. Mrs. Shumney said she hadn't known the men were in the same unit until the Marine came to her door, but by then, she was expecting the news.
Mrs. Shumney said she was thankful to be in Mesquite, and not Hawaii, to receive the devastating news.
"The last deployment ... was so awful, and the Lord knew I could not go through another one there," she said. "And he just picked us up and put us here. It was like he was preparing us for this to happen."
Although her own family lives in California, Mrs. Shumney said she plans to raise her children in Mesquite.
"We don't want to leave," she said. "This is where he wanted us, and this is what we picked out to do together."
SEMPER FI
books
:marine: