thedrifter
05-26-07, 07:56 AM
Monument honors all of Lima Company
Peers pay tribute to both the living and dead
Saturday, May 26, 2007 3:24 AM
By Jeb Phillips
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The idea for a monument began after Lima Company suffered its first casualties in May 2005.
Some former Marines back in central Ohio were following the news from Iraq about Company L, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines. They knew those guys would need financial help, so they formed the Mid-Ohio Marine Foundation and began raising money in July 2005.
They covered mortgages when military pay was less than lost civilian salary, when government insurance didn't pay enough toward an amputee's pain medication and when the foundation of a family's home needed to be rebuilt. But some of the money would also pay for a reminder of the service and the sacrifice the reservists made, said Jim Bannister, the foundation's president.
Lima Company was hit again, harder, in August 2005. All told, 22 Marines and one Navy corpsman attached to the unit died. The foundation's money helped the Marines after they came home in October. Today, the monument it built will be unveiled.
Bannister is careful to call it a "monument." Gunnery Sgt. Shawn Delgado will use the word "memorial," but only when he says "living memorial."
"When people think about Lima Company, Marine Corps, they go directly to the people we lost," said Delgado, who was wounded by shrapnel in Iraq. "We want this to recognize everyone who served with us."
Delgado and another Lima gunnery sergeant, Larry Bowman, did most of the designing. Two 7-foot-tall granite obelisks will stand outside of the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base. They will be etched with 215 names, every person who served with Lima Company in Iraq, living or dead, including 18 Navy corpsmen who served as medics. The obelisks also will list the 18 major combat operations in which Lima Company participated.
The obelisks will be sunk in a pentagon-shape foundation to recall the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, Delgado said.
The entire project cost about $45,000, half as much as it could have, he said. The Southern Ohio Monument Co.; Kreutz Construction Co. and Winnscapes Inc., a landscaping company, all gave the Marines a price break.
"These are just good city boys and farm boys that packed on guns and went over there," said Doug Hayburn, owner of the monument company, which is based in Chillicothe. "One of the guys who died was from Ross County. I told Gunny (Delgado), 'Whatever it costs us, it will cost you, and that's it.' "
Almost all of the Lima Company Marines won't have seen the monument until today. They and their friends and family members are invited, but the dedication is closed to the public.
Delgado said he expects about 500 people.
"This has all come out way better than I could have imagined," he said.
Jeb.phillips@dispatch.com
Ellie
Peers pay tribute to both the living and dead
Saturday, May 26, 2007 3:24 AM
By Jeb Phillips
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The idea for a monument began after Lima Company suffered its first casualties in May 2005.
Some former Marines back in central Ohio were following the news from Iraq about Company L, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines. They knew those guys would need financial help, so they formed the Mid-Ohio Marine Foundation and began raising money in July 2005.
They covered mortgages when military pay was less than lost civilian salary, when government insurance didn't pay enough toward an amputee's pain medication and when the foundation of a family's home needed to be rebuilt. But some of the money would also pay for a reminder of the service and the sacrifice the reservists made, said Jim Bannister, the foundation's president.
Lima Company was hit again, harder, in August 2005. All told, 22 Marines and one Navy corpsman attached to the unit died. The foundation's money helped the Marines after they came home in October. Today, the monument it built will be unveiled.
Bannister is careful to call it a "monument." Gunnery Sgt. Shawn Delgado will use the word "memorial," but only when he says "living memorial."
"When people think about Lima Company, Marine Corps, they go directly to the people we lost," said Delgado, who was wounded by shrapnel in Iraq. "We want this to recognize everyone who served with us."
Delgado and another Lima gunnery sergeant, Larry Bowman, did most of the designing. Two 7-foot-tall granite obelisks will stand outside of the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base. They will be etched with 215 names, every person who served with Lima Company in Iraq, living or dead, including 18 Navy corpsmen who served as medics. The obelisks also will list the 18 major combat operations in which Lima Company participated.
The obelisks will be sunk in a pentagon-shape foundation to recall the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, Delgado said.
The entire project cost about $45,000, half as much as it could have, he said. The Southern Ohio Monument Co.; Kreutz Construction Co. and Winnscapes Inc., a landscaping company, all gave the Marines a price break.
"These are just good city boys and farm boys that packed on guns and went over there," said Doug Hayburn, owner of the monument company, which is based in Chillicothe. "One of the guys who died was from Ross County. I told Gunny (Delgado), 'Whatever it costs us, it will cost you, and that's it.' "
Almost all of the Lima Company Marines won't have seen the monument until today. They and their friends and family members are invited, but the dedication is closed to the public.
Delgado said he expects about 500 people.
"This has all come out way better than I could have imagined," he said.
Jeb.phillips@dispatch.com
Ellie