thedrifter
04-05-07, 08:58 AM
Published: April 04, 2007 10:04 pm
As Jonesboro woman’s grandson comes home from Iraq, her great grandson leaves
By Daniel Silliman
dsilliman@news-daily.com
On the side table of a quiet Jonesboro home sits a small photo album. Inside were three pictures: A Marine patting down an Iraqi, checking for weapons. A group of Marines smiling. A Marine pointing his gun at the camera.
On the wall of the Thomas Road home hangs two portraits of two Marines. One is Dorothy Mercure’s grandson. The other is her great grandson.
“I support the troops,” Dorothy said. “But I don’t support the war.”
The house was quiet. Her resting feet left footprints in the white carpet. A book of Maya Angelou’s poetry was on the coffee table. Cloudy light came through the window and she paused, trying to say how the four-year war in Iraq has come here, to her home and her family.
“Well,” she said, “you’re scared every time the phone rings, when they’re over there.”
The older Marine, 27-year-old Mason, got out of the Corps in November after eight years of service. He is going to his grandmother’s house for Easter Sunday, Dorothy said, and she will make him a steak.
He was stationed at an airport outside of Baghdad, and Dorothy sent him care packages of food.
Mason sent his grandmother a few pictures, but he hasn’t talked to her about his time in Iraq. He told his sister about having to pick up body parts after an explosion.
“Maybe he didn’t want to tell me that kind of stuff,” Dorothy said, sitting in her wheel chair and looking at his picture.
After eight years, Mason returned to his home in Griffin, last fall.
This fall, his nephew and Dorothy’s great grandson, 19-year-old Christopher, will put on his Marine uniform and fly to Fallujah.
Dorothy doesn’t think of their family as a Marine family or, particularly, as a military family. A grandfather on the other side of the family served in the military, she said, and that inspired Mason to join. Christopher, who grew up outside of Cleveland, Ohio, was inspired to follow his uncle into the Corps.
Christopher joined when he was 17.
“His mother knew he really wanted to go,” Dorothy said. “So she signed for him. He finished high school and then he left.”
Dorothy spent the Christmas before last with Christopher, his younger brother and the rest of the family when they all drove down to Georgia. In 2003, Dorothy drove up to Ohio to see them.
They played Scrabble, she said. They had a good time.
“I’m afraid I’m not going to see Christopher before he leaves,” Dorothy said. “I wanted to see him before he goes. I sure wasn’t expecting him to go in. Not this fast.”
He is leaving for training in California, soon. They said he would be going to Fallujah this fall, or maybe even sooner. Dorothy is preparing to send him care packages filled with snacks. She doesn’t support the war, but she supports their decision to go into the military and into war because, she said, that’s what they want to do with their lives.
“I just hope Christopher is OK and I’m glad Mason is OK,” Dorothy said.
She watches the news all the time. She reads poetry, reads the newspaper, plays Scrabble, looks at the pictures, loves her family and worries.
She worried about Mason. Now she will worry about Christopher.
She doesn’t know if her other great grandson, now 13, is thinking of following his older brother and his uncle into the Marines.
“Hopefully we won’t be having a war then,” she said.
Ellie
As Jonesboro woman’s grandson comes home from Iraq, her great grandson leaves
By Daniel Silliman
dsilliman@news-daily.com
On the side table of a quiet Jonesboro home sits a small photo album. Inside were three pictures: A Marine patting down an Iraqi, checking for weapons. A group of Marines smiling. A Marine pointing his gun at the camera.
On the wall of the Thomas Road home hangs two portraits of two Marines. One is Dorothy Mercure’s grandson. The other is her great grandson.
“I support the troops,” Dorothy said. “But I don’t support the war.”
The house was quiet. Her resting feet left footprints in the white carpet. A book of Maya Angelou’s poetry was on the coffee table. Cloudy light came through the window and she paused, trying to say how the four-year war in Iraq has come here, to her home and her family.
“Well,” she said, “you’re scared every time the phone rings, when they’re over there.”
The older Marine, 27-year-old Mason, got out of the Corps in November after eight years of service. He is going to his grandmother’s house for Easter Sunday, Dorothy said, and she will make him a steak.
He was stationed at an airport outside of Baghdad, and Dorothy sent him care packages of food.
Mason sent his grandmother a few pictures, but he hasn’t talked to her about his time in Iraq. He told his sister about having to pick up body parts after an explosion.
“Maybe he didn’t want to tell me that kind of stuff,” Dorothy said, sitting in her wheel chair and looking at his picture.
After eight years, Mason returned to his home in Griffin, last fall.
This fall, his nephew and Dorothy’s great grandson, 19-year-old Christopher, will put on his Marine uniform and fly to Fallujah.
Dorothy doesn’t think of their family as a Marine family or, particularly, as a military family. A grandfather on the other side of the family served in the military, she said, and that inspired Mason to join. Christopher, who grew up outside of Cleveland, Ohio, was inspired to follow his uncle into the Corps.
Christopher joined when he was 17.
“His mother knew he really wanted to go,” Dorothy said. “So she signed for him. He finished high school and then he left.”
Dorothy spent the Christmas before last with Christopher, his younger brother and the rest of the family when they all drove down to Georgia. In 2003, Dorothy drove up to Ohio to see them.
They played Scrabble, she said. They had a good time.
“I’m afraid I’m not going to see Christopher before he leaves,” Dorothy said. “I wanted to see him before he goes. I sure wasn’t expecting him to go in. Not this fast.”
He is leaving for training in California, soon. They said he would be going to Fallujah this fall, or maybe even sooner. Dorothy is preparing to send him care packages filled with snacks. She doesn’t support the war, but she supports their decision to go into the military and into war because, she said, that’s what they want to do with their lives.
“I just hope Christopher is OK and I’m glad Mason is OK,” Dorothy said.
She watches the news all the time. She reads poetry, reads the newspaper, plays Scrabble, looks at the pictures, loves her family and worries.
She worried about Mason. Now she will worry about Christopher.
She doesn’t know if her other great grandson, now 13, is thinking of following his older brother and his uncle into the Marines.
“Hopefully we won’t be having a war then,” she said.
Ellie