thedrifter
09-18-05, 07:47 AM
Published: Sunday, September 18, 2005
A Marine's last words
'If you are reading this then I have died in Iraq'
By Jennifer Warnick
Herald Writer
SNOHOMISH - Marine Cpl. Jeffrey Starr's last letter arrived home more than two months after his flag-draped casket.
t came unexpectedly, weeks after his parents had placed his dusty, worn combat boots on the fireplace ledge.
It arrived weeks after two U.S. Marines stood in uniform on his parents' porch, bringing the worst possible news.
Brian Starr discovered the letter on his 22-year-old son's computer, which had been stored with his other belongings near Camp Pendleton, Calif., awaiting the soldier's return from Iraq.
Brian Starr had to fiddle with the computer to get it to work. When the screen finally flickered on, he saw an icon labeled "LetterHome." Jeffrey Starr had written the letter in November 2004 to his girlfriend, Emmylyn Anonical, 22. It read:
"Dearest Emmylyn,
I'm writing this for one reason only. On April 13th 2004 I thought I was going to die. My only regret is that I hadn't spent enough time with you. That I hadn't told you everything I wanted to. Being in Iraq for a 3rd time, I don't want to feel that way again because it was the worst feeling ever. So this letter is in case I won't ever get the chance to tell you.
Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of predicted this - that is why I'm writing this in November. A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances. I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom."
The Snohomish High School graduate had enlisted in the Marines in March 2001 - peacetime - when joining up meant young recruits would more likely see college campuses than combat.
Six months later, on Sept. 11, that all changed. By the time Starr graduated from Marine boot camp in November, the world was a different place.
On his way home, a reporter at the San Diego airport asked Starr, "How do you feel about Operation Enduring Freedom?" - the name the Pentagon had given to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. During training, Starr had been cut off from the news for months. He knew few details of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. However, the new Marine had a ready answer.
"I'm trained to do whatever my country tells me to do," he told the reporter.
Starr was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment based at Camp Pendleton, where he trained for a year as an assaultman. From there, he was sent to Iraq.
Starr's battalion was the first to enter Iraq when the war started in spring 2003. His unit was sent to secure the oil fields around Rumallah, and then it pushed onward to Baghdad, where the soldiers saw fierce fighting.
"I never saw him cower, although he must have been afraid, and I never saw him worry about himself, although he should have," wrote Major Jason Smith, one of Starr's commanders in Iraq, in a letter to his parents, Brian and Shellie Starr.
His fellow soldiers say Starr was a natural leader and a competitive, driven soldier. At the same time, his dry, sarcastic sense of humor helped those around him keep everything in perspective.
Starr, a team leader, was known for telling riddles during stressful, dangerous times to help ease his fellow soldiers' fears and keep their minds clear.
Some people thought he was quiet, and at times he was.
Occasionally it was because he was counting cards. He beat everyone at poker, sometimes averaging $75 a day in winnings. He'd read books on Texas Hold 'Em and how to bluff. Starr complained to his parents and girlfriend that he couldn't get anyone to play with him anymore.
Smith said Starr was the one in the crowd who would ask tough questions. He recalled several times when Starr came to his office, a handful of other Marines in tow, to ask something no one else dared.
"I always had the feeling that he wasn't asking for his own edification, but instead he was asking because no one else would and he was tired of listening to all the unsubstantiated rumors," Smith wrote. "I always walked away with a smile, imagining Jeff telling his guys to be quiet now that they had an answer."
After he was deployed to Okinawa, Japan, in December 2003, his unit was again sent to Iraq, this time to Fallujah, where four American contractors had been killed.
It was in that city, on April 13, 2004, that Starr had a close call that rattled him deeply. While he and his fellow Marines were traveling through the city, insurgents attacked their convoy with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.
Starr and 13 Marines were forced to leave their vehicles and take refuge in a house, where they fought off several hundred insurgents for a few harrowing hours until reinforcements arrived.
When his parents found out about the siege, Brian Starr asked his son what he was thinking while he was fighting for his life.
"I'll tell you what I was thinking later - when I get home," he told his father.
When he got home, his father prompted him once again, "What were you thinking?"
"I had made my peace with God," Jeff Starr said, "and I regretted not spending enough time with Emmylyn."
"It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark."
Starr returned to Iraq for a third time at the end of February, this time to the city of Ramadi. His family and girlfriend knew he was taking on a growing leadership role, including teaching his fellow Marines martial arts during his free time. But when he called or wrote home, it wasn't to talk about Iraq.
"Everything was planning for him to come home," Shellie Starr said. "Never what he was doing. He was too excited."
At about 1:45 p.m. on May 30, Starr and about 40 other soldiers piled into Humvees for a security patrol of Ramadi. The soldiers parked the vehicles at a large, triangle-shaped intersection and fanned out into nearby streets and alleys.
Starr, one of the patrol leaders, headed down a small road. No more than five minutes after leaving the Humvees, the soldiers took cover after hearing a single gunshot.
That bullet entered Starr's left shoulder, and he stumbled a few steps backward before falling on his back, unconscious.
Phillippe Gerard, a medic who had served with Starr during his previous two tours in Iraq, sprinted toward the injured soldier. Though only five or six blocks, it seemed to take hours. Life was going in slow motion.
When Gerard knelt next to Starr, he hardly recognized the vibrant, strong-willed soldier. He began sealing the wound, looking for the exit point and removing Starr's flak vest. When he did that, he knew immediately that it was bad.
"I was going to bring him back. I knew I could," Gerard wrote two days later in a letter to Anonical. "I begged him to stay with me, to fight with me."
Starr was unresponsive, his pulse weak. Before long, the medic put two and two together. The bullet had reached Starr's heart.
Starr stopped breathing, and Gerard cleared his airway and started CPR. The soldiers around him were yelling at him not to give up on Starr.
continued...
A Marine's last words
'If you are reading this then I have died in Iraq'
By Jennifer Warnick
Herald Writer
SNOHOMISH - Marine Cpl. Jeffrey Starr's last letter arrived home more than two months after his flag-draped casket.
t came unexpectedly, weeks after his parents had placed his dusty, worn combat boots on the fireplace ledge.
It arrived weeks after two U.S. Marines stood in uniform on his parents' porch, bringing the worst possible news.
Brian Starr discovered the letter on his 22-year-old son's computer, which had been stored with his other belongings near Camp Pendleton, Calif., awaiting the soldier's return from Iraq.
Brian Starr had to fiddle with the computer to get it to work. When the screen finally flickered on, he saw an icon labeled "LetterHome." Jeffrey Starr had written the letter in November 2004 to his girlfriend, Emmylyn Anonical, 22. It read:
"Dearest Emmylyn,
I'm writing this for one reason only. On April 13th 2004 I thought I was going to die. My only regret is that I hadn't spent enough time with you. That I hadn't told you everything I wanted to. Being in Iraq for a 3rd time, I don't want to feel that way again because it was the worst feeling ever. So this letter is in case I won't ever get the chance to tell you.
Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of predicted this - that is why I'm writing this in November. A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances. I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom."
The Snohomish High School graduate had enlisted in the Marines in March 2001 - peacetime - when joining up meant young recruits would more likely see college campuses than combat.
Six months later, on Sept. 11, that all changed. By the time Starr graduated from Marine boot camp in November, the world was a different place.
On his way home, a reporter at the San Diego airport asked Starr, "How do you feel about Operation Enduring Freedom?" - the name the Pentagon had given to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. During training, Starr had been cut off from the news for months. He knew few details of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. However, the new Marine had a ready answer.
"I'm trained to do whatever my country tells me to do," he told the reporter.
Starr was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment based at Camp Pendleton, where he trained for a year as an assaultman. From there, he was sent to Iraq.
Starr's battalion was the first to enter Iraq when the war started in spring 2003. His unit was sent to secure the oil fields around Rumallah, and then it pushed onward to Baghdad, where the soldiers saw fierce fighting.
"I never saw him cower, although he must have been afraid, and I never saw him worry about himself, although he should have," wrote Major Jason Smith, one of Starr's commanders in Iraq, in a letter to his parents, Brian and Shellie Starr.
His fellow soldiers say Starr was a natural leader and a competitive, driven soldier. At the same time, his dry, sarcastic sense of humor helped those around him keep everything in perspective.
Starr, a team leader, was known for telling riddles during stressful, dangerous times to help ease his fellow soldiers' fears and keep their minds clear.
Some people thought he was quiet, and at times he was.
Occasionally it was because he was counting cards. He beat everyone at poker, sometimes averaging $75 a day in winnings. He'd read books on Texas Hold 'Em and how to bluff. Starr complained to his parents and girlfriend that he couldn't get anyone to play with him anymore.
Smith said Starr was the one in the crowd who would ask tough questions. He recalled several times when Starr came to his office, a handful of other Marines in tow, to ask something no one else dared.
"I always had the feeling that he wasn't asking for his own edification, but instead he was asking because no one else would and he was tired of listening to all the unsubstantiated rumors," Smith wrote. "I always walked away with a smile, imagining Jeff telling his guys to be quiet now that they had an answer."
After he was deployed to Okinawa, Japan, in December 2003, his unit was again sent to Iraq, this time to Fallujah, where four American contractors had been killed.
It was in that city, on April 13, 2004, that Starr had a close call that rattled him deeply. While he and his fellow Marines were traveling through the city, insurgents attacked their convoy with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.
Starr and 13 Marines were forced to leave their vehicles and take refuge in a house, where they fought off several hundred insurgents for a few harrowing hours until reinforcements arrived.
When his parents found out about the siege, Brian Starr asked his son what he was thinking while he was fighting for his life.
"I'll tell you what I was thinking later - when I get home," he told his father.
When he got home, his father prompted him once again, "What were you thinking?"
"I had made my peace with God," Jeff Starr said, "and I regretted not spending enough time with Emmylyn."
"It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark."
Starr returned to Iraq for a third time at the end of February, this time to the city of Ramadi. His family and girlfriend knew he was taking on a growing leadership role, including teaching his fellow Marines martial arts during his free time. But when he called or wrote home, it wasn't to talk about Iraq.
"Everything was planning for him to come home," Shellie Starr said. "Never what he was doing. He was too excited."
At about 1:45 p.m. on May 30, Starr and about 40 other soldiers piled into Humvees for a security patrol of Ramadi. The soldiers parked the vehicles at a large, triangle-shaped intersection and fanned out into nearby streets and alleys.
Starr, one of the patrol leaders, headed down a small road. No more than five minutes after leaving the Humvees, the soldiers took cover after hearing a single gunshot.
That bullet entered Starr's left shoulder, and he stumbled a few steps backward before falling on his back, unconscious.
Phillippe Gerard, a medic who had served with Starr during his previous two tours in Iraq, sprinted toward the injured soldier. Though only five or six blocks, it seemed to take hours. Life was going in slow motion.
When Gerard knelt next to Starr, he hardly recognized the vibrant, strong-willed soldier. He began sealing the wound, looking for the exit point and removing Starr's flak vest. When he did that, he knew immediately that it was bad.
"I was going to bring him back. I knew I could," Gerard wrote two days later in a letter to Anonical. "I begged him to stay with me, to fight with me."
Starr was unresponsive, his pulse weak. Before long, the medic put two and two together. The bullet had reached Starr's heart.
Starr stopped breathing, and Gerard cleared his airway and started CPR. The soldiers around him were yelling at him not to give up on Starr.
continued...