thedrifter
05-20-07, 08:36 AM
Fallen Marine's mother copes with loss
Cindy Corell
Connections
He was sunshine and light. He played trumpet. He loved meeting new people, whom he embraced as quickly as he did longtime friends.
Daniel Morris went to Iraq with hopes of helping people.
"In every letter he wrote, he wrote about helping those people," his mother, Carol Morris Wendell, said.
A small woman with light brown hair, Carol tears up when she speaks of the 19-year-old boy she loved, of the man who died on Valentine's Day in a grenade blast in a second-floor room transformed into a combat outpost.
In the instaneous shatter of a grenade's explosion, one life was lost, one life was changed forever and dozens of others folded into an everlasting bond of grief and love.
That's the way it is for Carol, who works as an administrative assistant in the training department at Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center.
"He was a hero way before he ever left," she said.
When Daniel first headed to Iraq, Carol communicated with parents of his fellow Marines. She still logs on to that Web site. She met a lot of the Marines and their families when she went to a memorial service in Hawaii when the unit returned last month.
The local community has responded beautifully since the young Marine's death, Carol said. She's received an outpouring of support — her workplace has buoyed her, and she finds cards in the mailbox from people she's never met.
Strangers thank her for her son's ultimate sacrifice.
But since she heard the crushing news, Carol had to know about Daniel's last moments, so meeting his comrades was essential.
Steve Mraz, a correspondent with Stars and Stripes, was embedded with Co. G, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment that had set up the temporary outpost in Haqlaniyah, Iraq, in mid-February. He was there when the grenade flew in the window where Daniel worked on an antenna. Mraz wrote of the attack, of the loss. Lance Cpl. Travis C. Dodson, 21, was cleaning his rifle on the floor.
Medical help was there immediately. Medics performed CPR on both young men, packaged their bodies for transport to a hospital.
Navy Corpsman Joseph Poquiz later would tell Carol how he worked to save her son, how Daniel went quickly and didn't suffer.
"I needed to know someone who cared about him was with him," she said. "He was never alone."
Still finding her full strength after the loss, and still helping a younger son cope with it all, Carol looks forward to the day when she can help others who mourn losses or severe injuries from combat. She depended on a family support group while Daniel was deployed, so she understands the need.
"Emotionally, I'm not ready to help anybody yet," she said. "But I know that I want to. I feel something like a tug at my heart to do that."
In early April, Carol and her family traveled to Bethesda, Md., where Travis recovers from his wounds. He lost both legs in the blast of the grenade, and he, too, mourns his friend, Daniel.
She had a long talk with Travis' mother.
"I told her that he can do anything," she said. "I know it feels like he can't, but I know what people can do. If I didn't work here, I wouldn't know that, but his only limitations are inside of him. I think he will be fine."
And so will Carol. Her wounds, too, are new, but there's a spirit in this Marine's mom that is undefeatable.
It's easy to see where Daniel got his sunshine to share with the rest of the world. A little bit of it shines on whomever his mother meets.
Cindy Corell is the Local Content Editor of The News Leader. E-mail her at ccorell@newsleader.com
Ellie
Cindy Corell
Connections
He was sunshine and light. He played trumpet. He loved meeting new people, whom he embraced as quickly as he did longtime friends.
Daniel Morris went to Iraq with hopes of helping people.
"In every letter he wrote, he wrote about helping those people," his mother, Carol Morris Wendell, said.
A small woman with light brown hair, Carol tears up when she speaks of the 19-year-old boy she loved, of the man who died on Valentine's Day in a grenade blast in a second-floor room transformed into a combat outpost.
In the instaneous shatter of a grenade's explosion, one life was lost, one life was changed forever and dozens of others folded into an everlasting bond of grief and love.
That's the way it is for Carol, who works as an administrative assistant in the training department at Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center.
"He was a hero way before he ever left," she said.
When Daniel first headed to Iraq, Carol communicated with parents of his fellow Marines. She still logs on to that Web site. She met a lot of the Marines and their families when she went to a memorial service in Hawaii when the unit returned last month.
The local community has responded beautifully since the young Marine's death, Carol said. She's received an outpouring of support — her workplace has buoyed her, and she finds cards in the mailbox from people she's never met.
Strangers thank her for her son's ultimate sacrifice.
But since she heard the crushing news, Carol had to know about Daniel's last moments, so meeting his comrades was essential.
Steve Mraz, a correspondent with Stars and Stripes, was embedded with Co. G, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment that had set up the temporary outpost in Haqlaniyah, Iraq, in mid-February. He was there when the grenade flew in the window where Daniel worked on an antenna. Mraz wrote of the attack, of the loss. Lance Cpl. Travis C. Dodson, 21, was cleaning his rifle on the floor.
Medical help was there immediately. Medics performed CPR on both young men, packaged their bodies for transport to a hospital.
Navy Corpsman Joseph Poquiz later would tell Carol how he worked to save her son, how Daniel went quickly and didn't suffer.
"I needed to know someone who cared about him was with him," she said. "He was never alone."
Still finding her full strength after the loss, and still helping a younger son cope with it all, Carol looks forward to the day when she can help others who mourn losses or severe injuries from combat. She depended on a family support group while Daniel was deployed, so she understands the need.
"Emotionally, I'm not ready to help anybody yet," she said. "But I know that I want to. I feel something like a tug at my heart to do that."
In early April, Carol and her family traveled to Bethesda, Md., where Travis recovers from his wounds. He lost both legs in the blast of the grenade, and he, too, mourns his friend, Daniel.
She had a long talk with Travis' mother.
"I told her that he can do anything," she said. "I know it feels like he can't, but I know what people can do. If I didn't work here, I wouldn't know that, but his only limitations are inside of him. I think he will be fine."
And so will Carol. Her wounds, too, are new, but there's a spirit in this Marine's mom that is undefeatable.
It's easy to see where Daniel got his sunshine to share with the rest of the world. A little bit of it shines on whomever his mother meets.
Cindy Corell is the Local Content Editor of The News Leader. E-mail her at ccorell@newsleader.com
Ellie