thedrifter
11-11-05, 06:33 AM
Posted on Thu, Nov. 10, 2005
Father reflects on year since son killed in Iraq as Marines pay tribute
DON BABWIN
Associated Press
CHICAGO - John Giannopoulos knew Thursday was going to be tough. It was the day before Veterans Day - the day he knew the nation would remember those men and women who gave their lives for their country and the day he would mark the one-year anniversary of his own son's death in Iraq.
But it was tougher still because on Thursday his mind would not wander, even for a moment, away from his son. There would be no thinking about anything except the memory of his son, Peter, his life, his death and those Marines coming to his Inverness home and telling him the 22-year-old Marine corporal had been killed.
The reason is that on this Thursday, Giannopoulos gathered with the one group of people who understand what he and his family have been going through the last 12 months - other family members of Marines killed in Iraq.
"It brings a lot of pain," he said before a ceremony in which a memorial bearing the names of 14 Marines of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, was unveiled at the Marine Corps Reserve Center on Chicago's North Side. "But they are honoring my son so we'll go for that."
So he and his wife, Angie, sat with the relatives of the other Marines who were killed - seven of whom, including Peter Giannopoulos, died in a little over a month late last year - as Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn and others paid tribute to both their loved ones and them.
"We're here today to consecrate a memorial so they never shall be forgotten," Quinn said. "We have to keep their memories alive, we have to salute their parents who gave them their values."
At the end of the hourlong ceremony, family members took turns touching the names of their loved ones etched into the 10-foot-tall granite and brick monument. Some kissed their hands before touching the monument. Others kissed the monument itself.
About 200 Marines, family members and others attended the ceremony
Giannopoulos said such events, as difficult as they are, help because they bring him and his wife together with people who know what they're going through.
"It's good for us to get together," he said of the times he and his wife have gathered with other parents of Marines who have been killed. "We've all suffered the same kind of loss. It helps, it's especially helped my wife."
He said when they do meet there is no talk about the questions swirling around about the war.
"We all understand that the people out there are somebody's kids like ours," he said. "We are there (at war) and we just pray for the people that are there."
Now John and Angie Giannopoulos must get through Veterans Day. It is at once a holiday for the whole country and a milestone that family members of the more than 2,000 American troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan have or will experience.
It is their last day of firsts. The first Thanksgiving without their son. The first Christmas, Fourth of July.
"Maybe it will get easier (now) that we don't have anniversaries that come up for the first time," he said.
But then, almost before the words are out of his mouth, he acknowledges that he doesn't quite believe that.
"Honestly, I don't see this as ever getting better for us," he said.
In fact, he wonders if it will get worse, so bad that he might have to pass on events like Thursday's.
"Since he was killed and up until now I've always had the philosophy that I'll go any time someone chooses to honor my son," he said. "It's possible at some point the pain may be just too much to do that."
Ellie
http://p089.ezboard.com/bthefontmanscommunity
Father reflects on year since son killed in Iraq as Marines pay tribute
DON BABWIN
Associated Press
CHICAGO - John Giannopoulos knew Thursday was going to be tough. It was the day before Veterans Day - the day he knew the nation would remember those men and women who gave their lives for their country and the day he would mark the one-year anniversary of his own son's death in Iraq.
But it was tougher still because on Thursday his mind would not wander, even for a moment, away from his son. There would be no thinking about anything except the memory of his son, Peter, his life, his death and those Marines coming to his Inverness home and telling him the 22-year-old Marine corporal had been killed.
The reason is that on this Thursday, Giannopoulos gathered with the one group of people who understand what he and his family have been going through the last 12 months - other family members of Marines killed in Iraq.
"It brings a lot of pain," he said before a ceremony in which a memorial bearing the names of 14 Marines of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, was unveiled at the Marine Corps Reserve Center on Chicago's North Side. "But they are honoring my son so we'll go for that."
So he and his wife, Angie, sat with the relatives of the other Marines who were killed - seven of whom, including Peter Giannopoulos, died in a little over a month late last year - as Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn and others paid tribute to both their loved ones and them.
"We're here today to consecrate a memorial so they never shall be forgotten," Quinn said. "We have to keep their memories alive, we have to salute their parents who gave them their values."
At the end of the hourlong ceremony, family members took turns touching the names of their loved ones etched into the 10-foot-tall granite and brick monument. Some kissed their hands before touching the monument. Others kissed the monument itself.
About 200 Marines, family members and others attended the ceremony
Giannopoulos said such events, as difficult as they are, help because they bring him and his wife together with people who know what they're going through.
"It's good for us to get together," he said of the times he and his wife have gathered with other parents of Marines who have been killed. "We've all suffered the same kind of loss. It helps, it's especially helped my wife."
He said when they do meet there is no talk about the questions swirling around about the war.
"We all understand that the people out there are somebody's kids like ours," he said. "We are there (at war) and we just pray for the people that are there."
Now John and Angie Giannopoulos must get through Veterans Day. It is at once a holiday for the whole country and a milestone that family members of the more than 2,000 American troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan have or will experience.
It is their last day of firsts. The first Thanksgiving without their son. The first Christmas, Fourth of July.
"Maybe it will get easier (now) that we don't have anniversaries that come up for the first time," he said.
But then, almost before the words are out of his mouth, he acknowledges that he doesn't quite believe that.
"Honestly, I don't see this as ever getting better for us," he said.
In fact, he wonders if it will get worse, so bad that he might have to pass on events like Thursday's.
"Since he was killed and up until now I've always had the philosophy that I'll go any time someone chooses to honor my son," he said. "It's possible at some point the pain may be just too much to do that."
Ellie
http://p089.ezboard.com/bthefontmanscommunity