thedrifter
08-27-07, 07:38 AM
Soldier's mother gets walking
Monday, August 27, 2007
By JO-ANN MORIARTY (jo-ann.moriarty @newhouse.com)
WASHINGTON - The only son of Deerfield resident Marcia J. Hawkins - Cary M. Hawkins, 22 - is in Iraq. He's been there a year now with the 25th Infantry, a sergeant in the Army. He's a gunner.
The 44-year-old mother wants her son and the tens of thousands of American men and women fighting in Iraq to know in a tangible way that she thinks about them constantly.
The idea came to her to walk.
Her idea shaped into "Walking a Mile for a Soldier." And she did. Hawkins and 10 other friends and family members started two weeks ago at the South Deerfield firehouse, spent every minute together in an RV when they weren't walking, and arrived yesterday in Washington, finishing their more than 200-mile march by climbing the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The final ascent brought to the top Hawkins' raw emotions of joy and concern, worry and comfort.
"It is so emotional," Hawkins said, walking back down the steps. "I want to tell every soldier who has ever worn the military uniform that if I could, I would walk a mile for them.
"I am marching as an American for the ones who served previously, the ones who are serving now and for the ones who will serve in the future," she said.
She wore fatigue cargo pants and a T-shirt printed with the word, "Marines."
The journey took the pilgrims through cities and down country roads, including one in rural Pennsylvania where they spotted a roadside sign honoring the memorial of Lance Cpl. Brandon M. Hardy. The gas station owner knew the fallen Marine's mother, Jill Hardy. A telephone call was placed and she met the group for dinner that evening.
Brandon Hardy, 25, was killed in combat in April.
The two mothers talked about their sons.
"She was an incredible person," Hawkins said. "I made a friend for life."
Hawkins named her son, a graduate of Frontier Regional High School and Greenfield Community, after the movie star, Cary Grant. She and her husband, Mitchell, have a daughter, Brooke M., a student at Westfield State College.
Popular culture idolizes celebrities, not on real knowledge of a star, but from the roles they play and the images they create, Hawkins said, explaining that she has come to idolize "the American soldier," because they are willing to put on a uniform and fight where their government sends them.
Last week, she learned that a helicopter from the 25th Infantry went down, and for 12 hours she waited to learn whether her son was involved. At about 9 that evening, someone from the Family Readiness Group called and said it wasn't her son's platoon on that fatal mission.
"It's a weird emotion, bittersweet," she said. "You know someone else is getting that knock."
"It is hard, until you hear, you can never get good at stress," she said.
To her son, the war in Iraq is about securing a safer country here and a better future for Iraqi children. The Army sergeant told his mother, "the little kids, they melt your heart."
Hawkins is stationed in Kirkuk, a war zone northwest of Baghdad. His mother knows, without the details, that he is in the midst of an intense moment in the war as the president and Congress struggle to find a resolution to the war that began in March 2003. As of yesterday, at least 3,722 members of the U.S. military had died since the beginning of the Iraq war, according to the Defense Department
The sergeant climbed a rooftop recently and called his mother for a brief conversation to say hi and tell her that he loved her.
His mother is aware of the danger and equally appreciates that her son has to live his life and travel his own journey.
When asked if she agreed with the decision to invade Iraq, Hawkins looked up at the statue of Lincoln and across the reflecting pool where, she noted, Martin Luther King Jr., gave his, "I Have a Dream," speech.
"I'm a long-term thinker," she said. "Let history decide."
Ellie
Monday, August 27, 2007
By JO-ANN MORIARTY (jo-ann.moriarty @newhouse.com)
WASHINGTON - The only son of Deerfield resident Marcia J. Hawkins - Cary M. Hawkins, 22 - is in Iraq. He's been there a year now with the 25th Infantry, a sergeant in the Army. He's a gunner.
The 44-year-old mother wants her son and the tens of thousands of American men and women fighting in Iraq to know in a tangible way that she thinks about them constantly.
The idea came to her to walk.
Her idea shaped into "Walking a Mile for a Soldier." And she did. Hawkins and 10 other friends and family members started two weeks ago at the South Deerfield firehouse, spent every minute together in an RV when they weren't walking, and arrived yesterday in Washington, finishing their more than 200-mile march by climbing the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The final ascent brought to the top Hawkins' raw emotions of joy and concern, worry and comfort.
"It is so emotional," Hawkins said, walking back down the steps. "I want to tell every soldier who has ever worn the military uniform that if I could, I would walk a mile for them.
"I am marching as an American for the ones who served previously, the ones who are serving now and for the ones who will serve in the future," she said.
She wore fatigue cargo pants and a T-shirt printed with the word, "Marines."
The journey took the pilgrims through cities and down country roads, including one in rural Pennsylvania where they spotted a roadside sign honoring the memorial of Lance Cpl. Brandon M. Hardy. The gas station owner knew the fallen Marine's mother, Jill Hardy. A telephone call was placed and she met the group for dinner that evening.
Brandon Hardy, 25, was killed in combat in April.
The two mothers talked about their sons.
"She was an incredible person," Hawkins said. "I made a friend for life."
Hawkins named her son, a graduate of Frontier Regional High School and Greenfield Community, after the movie star, Cary Grant. She and her husband, Mitchell, have a daughter, Brooke M., a student at Westfield State College.
Popular culture idolizes celebrities, not on real knowledge of a star, but from the roles they play and the images they create, Hawkins said, explaining that she has come to idolize "the American soldier," because they are willing to put on a uniform and fight where their government sends them.
Last week, she learned that a helicopter from the 25th Infantry went down, and for 12 hours she waited to learn whether her son was involved. At about 9 that evening, someone from the Family Readiness Group called and said it wasn't her son's platoon on that fatal mission.
"It's a weird emotion, bittersweet," she said. "You know someone else is getting that knock."
"It is hard, until you hear, you can never get good at stress," she said.
To her son, the war in Iraq is about securing a safer country here and a better future for Iraqi children. The Army sergeant told his mother, "the little kids, they melt your heart."
Hawkins is stationed in Kirkuk, a war zone northwest of Baghdad. His mother knows, without the details, that he is in the midst of an intense moment in the war as the president and Congress struggle to find a resolution to the war that began in March 2003. As of yesterday, at least 3,722 members of the U.S. military had died since the beginning of the Iraq war, according to the Defense Department
The sergeant climbed a rooftop recently and called his mother for a brief conversation to say hi and tell her that he loved her.
His mother is aware of the danger and equally appreciates that her son has to live his life and travel his own journey.
When asked if she agreed with the decision to invade Iraq, Hawkins looked up at the statue of Lincoln and across the reflecting pool where, she noted, Martin Luther King Jr., gave his, "I Have a Dream," speech.
"I'm a long-term thinker," she said. "Let history decide."
Ellie