PDA

View Full Version : Fallen Marine’s thoughts preserved



thedrifter
09-03-06, 07:49 AM
Posted on Sun, Sep. 03, 2006

Fallen Marine’s thoughts preserved
Friend captures Irmo soldier’s perspective on Iraq in documentary
By CHUCK CRUMBO
ccrumbo@thestate.com

Dressed in a golf shirt, David Weimortz appeared relaxed as he stretched an arm over the back of the sofa.

The 28-year-old Irmo man was being interviewed by a friend, Jason Flynn, for a graduate-school video documentary.

It was March of this year, a little more than a week after Weimortz, a Marine infantryman, had returned from his second tour in Iraq. He talked to Flynn about the Marine Corps and war.

“I wanted to see combat. I wanted to get shot at. I wanted to shoot at people,” said Weimortz, a 2000 graduate of USC. “And I did all that.”

Five months later, Weimortz was dead, the victim of an Aug. 26 roadside bomb attack in the volatile al Anbar province. Weimortz — a corporal — was on his third deployment to Iraq.

The seven-minute interview titled "Only the Dead" is at iFilm.com, an online storehouse of digital videos.

The original idea was for Weimortz and Flynn, who grew up a couple of houses apart from each other, to talk on camera about what had happened lately in their lives.

But technical problems caused them to change course and focus the project on Weimortz, Flynn said.

“At the time we spoke on camera, his general impression was that he would not be sent back overseas but he was fully aware of the fact that things could change in an instant, which they did,” Flynn said.

Flynn used a split-screen to tell the story, with Weimortz on the left side talking about his experiences. On the right side of the screen are pictures Weimortz took to illustrate his points.

During the interview, Weimortz explained that although he could have been an officer, it would have taken too long. Enlisting and joining the infantry promised the quickest path to Iraq.

“Until your life is on the line, you really don’t know what you’re made of,” the Dutch Fork High School graduate said. “Lead is flying over your head, OK, and you know there’s an enemy within 100 yards of you that’s trying to hurt you.

“You find out what you’re made of. I’m not a coward.”

Weimortz reflected on the people of Iraq and seemed conflicted, particularly on the subject of helping the Iraqis take a greater role in providing their own security.

“I think — with the Iraqis — they’re not passionate about their freedom,” Weimortz said. “It’s a very tedious and arduous task, trying to teach Iraqis to be self-sufficient. ... We’re trying to take stagnant water and turn it into Evian.”

In the next passage, Weimortz praises the Iraqi people for their kindness and generosity.

“I felt like royalty over there,” he said. “Every time we walked through, we were treated fantastically.”

The hope for Iraq is in the children, Weimortz said. “The kids are really what makes it worthwhile. ... It is our goal, our desire, they come in as well-adjusted, well-educated persons and want to have a democratic society. Hopefully, that will be infectious and spread.”

When the subject turned to killing, Weimortz talked tough. The death of an insurgent “does not bother me at all,” he said. “They want to meet Allah and we want to help them. If that offends someone, sorry. We’re not the Peace Corps.”

Later, Weimortz reflected again on war and the Marines.

“I went to combat, I got shot at. I shot at people. I blew up buildings. I saw death. I saw hope. I was inspired.

“I got self-respect. I got everything I wanted to do out of the Marine Corps.

“I have no regrets.”

Then a pause and Weimortz sighed deeply. “I could probably do without seeing the death. It’s not going to benefit me.

“Those are the images I could do without. No one needs to see decapitated heads, or arms and legs blown off. No one needs to see that, but unfortunately it’s part of combat.

“And it’s part of the game.”

The interview ends with several grim images that Weimortz described being flashed on the screen. There is no sound.

The decision to use the pictures was difficult, Flynn said.

“The images are there to show what people can’t or choose not to see every day,” Flynn said. “Those images are war, bottom line. Dave’s ultimate sacrifice proves that more than any of the words he spoke on screen.”

Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.

Ellie