thedrifter
05-07-06, 07:28 AM
Grieving father says U.S. should stay the course
BY TERRY KINNEY | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FAIRFIELD - John Prazynski thought he had seen the last of Camp Lejeune when his Marine son left for Iraq.
He's been back twice, though, riding his motorcycle 700 miles back to North Carolina, first when his son's comrades came home a year ago and again last month for a memorial service honoring his son, Taylor, and others who died in Iraq.
"I feel Taylor's presence in a lot of different ways, and that's one of my most fond memories," Prazynski said. "He loved to ride on the back of my motorcycle."
Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski, 20, died May 9, 2005, in a hospital in Fallujah of shrapnel wounds. A mortar shell had exploded near him during combat in Anbar Province.
Until then, John Prazynski, 43, a soft-spoken suburban real-estate broker, didn't consider himself political and never expected to become a public figure, much less a pro-war activist.
On the Reds' Opening Day, he joined President Bush and two wounded soldiers on the field in pregame ceremonies. Prazynski said he wanted to thank Bush for his support "and give him two thumbs up with his positive stance on security, military and veterans' issues."
Prazynski has been interviewed repeatedly by news media about the war in the past year, while organizing a series of 5-kilometer runs and motorcycle rides to raise money for scholarships for children of slain soldiers and Marines.
"I do this to keep Taylor's memory alive," said Prazynski.
The former Air Force tech school instructor shares the pain, but not the viewpoint, of Cindy Sheehan, who became a high-profile war protester after her son was killed in Iraq in April 2004.
"She's grieving, as we are," Prazynski said. "She's chosen to direct her energies in a different direction. I say God bless her.
"My son died for the constitution that allows her to do what she's doing. Her son died, and God bless him, too, to support and defend the constitution that gives her the right to speak freely, and I'm all for that right.
"I just don't think that I clearly understand what her agenda is."
Sheehan has called for the impeachment of Bush, who she says duped America into invading Iraq.
"I will never be able to celebrate another patriotic holiday without mourning what this nation has stolen from my family," she wrote of her son, Casey, in a message posted last year on the Web site of Gold Star Families for Peace, which she helped found.
Prazynski understands the constant hurt of losing a child, and why such a loss has turned some grieving parents against the war. Even now, he said, "Every day is painful."
"I could easily have gone the other way," he said. "All I know is that I tried my best to teach Taylor to be the eternal optimist, to always find the positive, and to work for the good of things and the good of others."
In January 2003, the Fairfield High School senior began badgering his dad to let him sign up for early enlistment.
"He came to me and said, 'I want to be a Marine. I want to know I have what it takes,' " Prazynski said.
The fun-loving, popular youth who spent much of his senior year helping special-needs students had said in his last phone calls that he wanted to become a special education teacher, his father said.
"I told my wife, Carol, we've got to make something positive happen out of something so negative. That's what Taylor would want us to do," Prazynski said.
He searched the Internet and found several groups he felt he could support, but chose Impact Player Partners because it was based in Cincinnati. The nonprofit group, an advocate for wounded and disabled veterans, invited Prazynski to take part in the Opening Day with Bush.
Prazynski also works with the Washington-based Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors and hopes to raise donations for its activities by running in the Marine Corps Marathon in October.
Prazynski's last trip to Camp Lejeune was another step.
"That's part of the healing process, to meet parents of other Marines and soldiers who died and just be able to talk to them," he said.
On his way home, Prazynski made a spur-of-the-moment 300-mile side trip.
"I went up to Arlington (National Cemetery) and visited Taylor's grave, and the other Cincinnati fallen heroes and the other men he served with. That's part, I guess, of how I deal with things."
Ellie
BY TERRY KINNEY | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FAIRFIELD - John Prazynski thought he had seen the last of Camp Lejeune when his Marine son left for Iraq.
He's been back twice, though, riding his motorcycle 700 miles back to North Carolina, first when his son's comrades came home a year ago and again last month for a memorial service honoring his son, Taylor, and others who died in Iraq.
"I feel Taylor's presence in a lot of different ways, and that's one of my most fond memories," Prazynski said. "He loved to ride on the back of my motorcycle."
Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski, 20, died May 9, 2005, in a hospital in Fallujah of shrapnel wounds. A mortar shell had exploded near him during combat in Anbar Province.
Until then, John Prazynski, 43, a soft-spoken suburban real-estate broker, didn't consider himself political and never expected to become a public figure, much less a pro-war activist.
On the Reds' Opening Day, he joined President Bush and two wounded soldiers on the field in pregame ceremonies. Prazynski said he wanted to thank Bush for his support "and give him two thumbs up with his positive stance on security, military and veterans' issues."
Prazynski has been interviewed repeatedly by news media about the war in the past year, while organizing a series of 5-kilometer runs and motorcycle rides to raise money for scholarships for children of slain soldiers and Marines.
"I do this to keep Taylor's memory alive," said Prazynski.
The former Air Force tech school instructor shares the pain, but not the viewpoint, of Cindy Sheehan, who became a high-profile war protester after her son was killed in Iraq in April 2004.
"She's grieving, as we are," Prazynski said. "She's chosen to direct her energies in a different direction. I say God bless her.
"My son died for the constitution that allows her to do what she's doing. Her son died, and God bless him, too, to support and defend the constitution that gives her the right to speak freely, and I'm all for that right.
"I just don't think that I clearly understand what her agenda is."
Sheehan has called for the impeachment of Bush, who she says duped America into invading Iraq.
"I will never be able to celebrate another patriotic holiday without mourning what this nation has stolen from my family," she wrote of her son, Casey, in a message posted last year on the Web site of Gold Star Families for Peace, which she helped found.
Prazynski understands the constant hurt of losing a child, and why such a loss has turned some grieving parents against the war. Even now, he said, "Every day is painful."
"I could easily have gone the other way," he said. "All I know is that I tried my best to teach Taylor to be the eternal optimist, to always find the positive, and to work for the good of things and the good of others."
In January 2003, the Fairfield High School senior began badgering his dad to let him sign up for early enlistment.
"He came to me and said, 'I want to be a Marine. I want to know I have what it takes,' " Prazynski said.
The fun-loving, popular youth who spent much of his senior year helping special-needs students had said in his last phone calls that he wanted to become a special education teacher, his father said.
"I told my wife, Carol, we've got to make something positive happen out of something so negative. That's what Taylor would want us to do," Prazynski said.
He searched the Internet and found several groups he felt he could support, but chose Impact Player Partners because it was based in Cincinnati. The nonprofit group, an advocate for wounded and disabled veterans, invited Prazynski to take part in the Opening Day with Bush.
Prazynski also works with the Washington-based Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors and hopes to raise donations for its activities by running in the Marine Corps Marathon in October.
Prazynski's last trip to Camp Lejeune was another step.
"That's part of the healing process, to meet parents of other Marines and soldiers who died and just be able to talk to them," he said.
On his way home, Prazynski made a spur-of-the-moment 300-mile side trip.
"I went up to Arlington (National Cemetery) and visited Taylor's grave, and the other Cincinnati fallen heroes and the other men he served with. That's part, I guess, of how I deal with things."
Ellie