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thedrifter
05-04-07, 05:44 AM
Funeral reminds us who true heroes are
Friday, May 04, 2007
Huntsville Times

A young man sees planes flown into the World Trade Center, and his purpose in life becomes clear. He has to do something. He has to fight for his country. So he joins the U.S. Marines.

Thursday, they laid that young Marine, Lance Cpl. Adam Loggins, in a grave in Maple Hill Cemetery while his mother cried and his father's heart broke. Loggins died last week fighting in Anbar, a mean Iraqi province most of us had never heard of five years ago. He was 27 years old.

Hundreds came to his visitation Wednesday night, hundreds more to his funeral Thursday morning. Some knew him well, others not at all.

He's not the first from Huntsville to die there. Andrew Chris and Scott Love went before him. He may not be the last. But the awesome reality of his sacrifice and dreadful permanence of his absence made the crowds right and fitting. He deserved them and more.

There's a great debate about Loggins' war in Washington and the country now. Analysts say the presidency and the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis are at stake.

The stakes were even bigger for Loggins' family, fiance and friends. They will face the empty place at the table. They will miss the husband and father he might have become.

The young see things so clearly. Sometimes, they are blindingly wrong - not to say Loggins was wrong - but right or wrong, their clarity can shame their cautious elders, who hear ourselves say too often, "On the one hand ɠon the other hand."

Loggins saw his country attacked, and he responded the best way he knew. He risked his life because he believed that he should.

It is an amazing thing, a heroic thing.

But how best to honor that sacrifice? From the public square, there is no shortage of answers. Finish the job. End the war. Vote for us. No, vote for us. Listen to this radio show. Watch that TV program. Send money. Send gift bags. Take to the streets. Put stickers on the car.

We're in the phase of the war now where people are second-guessing each decision from beginning to the present. But that's not what this piece is about. It would be nice to think that we'd honor Loggins by engaging in that debate sometime later and by approaching the next war with the best debate we can have.

This war has also claimed thousands of Iraqi lives. I hope someone is remembering their names, because as I think of Adam Loggins, my own admiration swells for some other men and women. They are the ones who put in our public buildings and public spaces the memorials, plaques and lists of those who served and died.

Those men and women have it right. The least we owe these young people with their courage and clarity of purpose is to remember their names.

Adam Loggins. He was real, he was one of us, and he died for us. Remember that, and remember him.

You can reach Lee Roop at 532-4423 or lee.roop@htimes.com.

Ellie