thedrifter
10-03-06, 07:43 AM
She prays for peace - and son's safe return
Elaine Brower was at work yesterday morning when her cell phone rang and she heard her son say two beautiful syllables from Iraq.
"I'm done."
She dared to hope he was completely out of the war zone. "Are you in Kuwait?" she asked.
"No, but we're not going out anymore," he replied. "We're loading up."
"Don't be a hero. Don't volunteer for anything," she said. "Just get in quietly."
"Don't worry," he said.
"What route are you taking?" she asked.
"The shortest one, I hope," he said.
Her son hung up and she could only pray it truly was almost over.
This had been the second combat tour for 24-year-old Marine Sgt. James Brower. The first had been right after 9/11, when he was among the first Marines into Afghanistan.
For too many sleepless nights, Elaine Brower lay clutching a set of black plastic rosary beads her son had found years before at catechism class.
Her prayers seemed answered when he returned from Afghanistan intact. He joined the NYPD, and whatever dangers he faced in the street, he seemed done with war.
Then last year, her son announced he was returning to active duty with the Marines. She flew with him out to California and rented an SUV so she could give some of his comrades a ride to the base. She she had never met such decent, dedicated and selfless young men.
Her son and his magnificent comrades went off to war, and Elaine Brower returned to the life of a city worker living in Staten Island, married to a retired NYPD lieutenant.
She took out the rosary beads again, and the second wait turned all the more nightmarish when two New York City Marines from her son's unit were killed by a sniper. She went to both funerals and embraced both heart-torn mothers, offering what little comfort she could to women who had suffered what she most feared.
Elaine Brower had supported going into Afghanistan and she hardly had a typical protester's pedigree, but she came to feel the war in Iraq was a mistake that was costing us too many of our very best Americans. She told her son she had some news when he managed to make one of his periodic phone calls from the war zone last week.
"I got arrested," she said.
She explained that she had joined 16 others in a nonviolent act of civil disobedience outside the United Nations while President Bush addressed the General Assembly. Her son proved anew his devotion to the freedoms he is sworn to protect.
"You were only exercising your First Amendment rights," he told his mother.
Her son ended the conversation by saying he was scheduled to leave Iraq soon. He called again Friday and took a turn at surprising her.
"Ma, I got news to tell you," he said.
"What?" she asked.
"I volunteered to stay another month," he said.
She might have been more stunned by this news than her son had been by the news that she had been arrested. But the cell phone reception was so clear she could hear his fellow Marines in the background.
"I hear them laughing," she told him.
He then told her the wonderful truth: He would be heading home in just a few days.
"I'm going to get an apartment in Brooklyn with my friend here," he said. "We look at Craigslist all the time. There's like, 10 we're going to look at."
He then told her he had to go.
"We got to go on night patrol," he said.
She passed the weekend afraid to be too happy. She kept herself busy by helping to plan an anti-war march on Thursday from the United Nations to Union Square.
Yesterday morning, she was at her desk at the city controller's office when her son called to say he was finally on his way home. "For the next 24 hours I'm just going to pray," she said.
Last night, she got an e-mail from Iraq telling her something her son had not: A Marine in his unit had been killed on Sunday while on a final patrol.
"The day before they're leaving," she said. "That poor family."
She felt sick and guilty, and wondered if the fallen Marine was one of those she had heard laughing in the background.
Originally published on October 3, 2006
Ellie
Elaine Brower was at work yesterday morning when her cell phone rang and she heard her son say two beautiful syllables from Iraq.
"I'm done."
She dared to hope he was completely out of the war zone. "Are you in Kuwait?" she asked.
"No, but we're not going out anymore," he replied. "We're loading up."
"Don't be a hero. Don't volunteer for anything," she said. "Just get in quietly."
"Don't worry," he said.
"What route are you taking?" she asked.
"The shortest one, I hope," he said.
Her son hung up and she could only pray it truly was almost over.
This had been the second combat tour for 24-year-old Marine Sgt. James Brower. The first had been right after 9/11, when he was among the first Marines into Afghanistan.
For too many sleepless nights, Elaine Brower lay clutching a set of black plastic rosary beads her son had found years before at catechism class.
Her prayers seemed answered when he returned from Afghanistan intact. He joined the NYPD, and whatever dangers he faced in the street, he seemed done with war.
Then last year, her son announced he was returning to active duty with the Marines. She flew with him out to California and rented an SUV so she could give some of his comrades a ride to the base. She she had never met such decent, dedicated and selfless young men.
Her son and his magnificent comrades went off to war, and Elaine Brower returned to the life of a city worker living in Staten Island, married to a retired NYPD lieutenant.
She took out the rosary beads again, and the second wait turned all the more nightmarish when two New York City Marines from her son's unit were killed by a sniper. She went to both funerals and embraced both heart-torn mothers, offering what little comfort she could to women who had suffered what she most feared.
Elaine Brower had supported going into Afghanistan and she hardly had a typical protester's pedigree, but she came to feel the war in Iraq was a mistake that was costing us too many of our very best Americans. She told her son she had some news when he managed to make one of his periodic phone calls from the war zone last week.
"I got arrested," she said.
She explained that she had joined 16 others in a nonviolent act of civil disobedience outside the United Nations while President Bush addressed the General Assembly. Her son proved anew his devotion to the freedoms he is sworn to protect.
"You were only exercising your First Amendment rights," he told his mother.
Her son ended the conversation by saying he was scheduled to leave Iraq soon. He called again Friday and took a turn at surprising her.
"Ma, I got news to tell you," he said.
"What?" she asked.
"I volunteered to stay another month," he said.
She might have been more stunned by this news than her son had been by the news that she had been arrested. But the cell phone reception was so clear she could hear his fellow Marines in the background.
"I hear them laughing," she told him.
He then told her the wonderful truth: He would be heading home in just a few days.
"I'm going to get an apartment in Brooklyn with my friend here," he said. "We look at Craigslist all the time. There's like, 10 we're going to look at."
He then told her he had to go.
"We got to go on night patrol," he said.
She passed the weekend afraid to be too happy. She kept herself busy by helping to plan an anti-war march on Thursday from the United Nations to Union Square.
Yesterday morning, she was at her desk at the city controller's office when her son called to say he was finally on his way home. "For the next 24 hours I'm just going to pray," she said.
Last night, she got an e-mail from Iraq telling her something her son had not: A Marine in his unit had been killed on Sunday while on a final patrol.
"The day before they're leaving," she said. "That poor family."
She felt sick and guilty, and wondered if the fallen Marine was one of those she had heard laughing in the background.
Originally published on October 3, 2006
Ellie