thedrifter
05-25-07, 06:54 PM
Friday, May. 25, 2007
A Marine Father's Lament
By MICHAEL DUFFY, Brian Bennett, Mark Kukis
Age 29. Lance corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force
Hostile fire, Anbar province
Aureliano De La Torre didn't want his son Jesse to join the Marines. "It was his own idea," Aureliano says. "I didn't agree, but there was nothing I could do." As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan unfolded, Jesse grew determined to get involved as he mulled his future and the state of the world from his hometown of Aurora, Ill. He told his father that someone had to do something to stop al-Qaeda. Jesse was a gifted saxophone player, but he didn't want to spend his life playing in nightclubs.
Until Jesse joined the military, jazz had been one of his main passions. "He was great at improvisation," says Steve Ode, who played trombone alongside Jesse in jazz band through middle school and high school. "When it came to playing anything solo, the band directors turned to Jesse." But Jesse always seemed in search of a larger purpose. When he was about 12, he asked his father to take him to a nondenominational Bible-study group. Jesse had found it on his own and wanted to go because he was curious about religion. For two years father and son went together to Bible discussions, where Jesse was easily the youngest person. Jesse's initial curiosity grew into a deeply felt sense of spirituality that stayed with him throughout his life. He carried a Bible to school.
After graduating from high school in 1998, Jesse put jazz aside and pursued computer engineering in community-college classes in Aurora, where he also worked at an insurance company. But he abandoned the college path in 2005 to enlist in the Marines. The decision took his family by surprise. Jesse told his father only after he had arrived in California for training. Soon after, Jesse left for Iraq, where word from him came rarely.
Jesse went home over Christmas in 2006, spending two weeks of leave in Aurora. About five weeks after returning to duty in Anbar province, Jesse sent his father a short message saying he was O.K. Aureliano never communicated with his son again. At 10 a.m. on April 16, four Marines arrived at his house. When Aureliano asked if they were there about his son, the Marines didn't speak, but after a moment, they explained: Jesse had died in Iraq about seven hours earlier, killed by hostile fire.
"Our lives will never be the same," says Aureliano, whose grief is colored by the anger he feels over losing a son to a war he does not support. "Now that my son is gone, there is a vacancy in Iraq. Maybe the President would like to send one of his daughters over there to continue to fight in Jesse's place."
Ellie
A Marine Father's Lament
By MICHAEL DUFFY, Brian Bennett, Mark Kukis
Age 29. Lance corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force
Hostile fire, Anbar province
Aureliano De La Torre didn't want his son Jesse to join the Marines. "It was his own idea," Aureliano says. "I didn't agree, but there was nothing I could do." As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan unfolded, Jesse grew determined to get involved as he mulled his future and the state of the world from his hometown of Aurora, Ill. He told his father that someone had to do something to stop al-Qaeda. Jesse was a gifted saxophone player, but he didn't want to spend his life playing in nightclubs.
Until Jesse joined the military, jazz had been one of his main passions. "He was great at improvisation," says Steve Ode, who played trombone alongside Jesse in jazz band through middle school and high school. "When it came to playing anything solo, the band directors turned to Jesse." But Jesse always seemed in search of a larger purpose. When he was about 12, he asked his father to take him to a nondenominational Bible-study group. Jesse had found it on his own and wanted to go because he was curious about religion. For two years father and son went together to Bible discussions, where Jesse was easily the youngest person. Jesse's initial curiosity grew into a deeply felt sense of spirituality that stayed with him throughout his life. He carried a Bible to school.
After graduating from high school in 1998, Jesse put jazz aside and pursued computer engineering in community-college classes in Aurora, where he also worked at an insurance company. But he abandoned the college path in 2005 to enlist in the Marines. The decision took his family by surprise. Jesse told his father only after he had arrived in California for training. Soon after, Jesse left for Iraq, where word from him came rarely.
Jesse went home over Christmas in 2006, spending two weeks of leave in Aurora. About five weeks after returning to duty in Anbar province, Jesse sent his father a short message saying he was O.K. Aureliano never communicated with his son again. At 10 a.m. on April 16, four Marines arrived at his house. When Aureliano asked if they were there about his son, the Marines didn't speak, but after a moment, they explained: Jesse had died in Iraq about seven hours earlier, killed by hostile fire.
"Our lives will never be the same," says Aureliano, whose grief is colored by the anger he feels over losing a son to a war he does not support. "Now that my son is gone, there is a vacancy in Iraq. Maybe the President would like to send one of his daughters over there to continue to fight in Jesse's place."
Ellie