thedrifter
10-21-08, 08:04 AM
October 21, 2008
Families of fallen servicemen meet with president
By Abbey Brown and David Dinsmore
abrown@thetowntalk.com, ddinsmore@thetowntalk.com
As President Bush made his way up the steps of Air Force One at Alexandria International Airport, Amy Walters looked up with a smile and waved her arms. She mimicked tossing out a fishing line and held her hand up to her ear like a telephone.
Bush had promised to call Walters -- who lives outside of Houston -- for a fishing trip when he moved back to Texas. She'd been writing him ever since she was a Texas third-grader and he was governor of Texas. But she still had a "giant crush" on him.
"I never thought I'd meet him," she said Monday, still a little breathless from the visit. "Especially under these circumstances."
Walters was one of several family members of slain servicemen who met with the president inside Million Air's terminal after his economic roundtable in Alexandria earlier Monday afternoon.
"I sat on the sofa with him, and he held my hand," she said of Bush. "He was very nice. We talked about my brother, and he knew all about what he did."
Walters was just 16 when her brother, Leroy Sandoval Jr., was killed in Fallujah, Iraq -- the first U.S. Marine killed there.
Now 21, she sat next to the leader of the free world talking about the heroic exploits of her brother killed when he, too, was 21 on March 26, 2004.
"I was so nervous I threw up in the bathroom before the visit," Walters joked. "I was shaking. But he was down to earth."
The two talked about what Sandoval did in Iraq, and Walters pointed out that Bush knew the details of what happened to Sandoval.
"He said he knew that my brother had saved over a third of his platoon and that he was very proud of him," she said. "He even knew his name."
Sandoval's mother, Zaida Walters, and stepfather, Steve Walters, held between them a worn-out cowboy hat that belonged to Leroy Sandoval. Zaida held it close to her heart, momentarily covering the picture of her son she wore to show Bush. The hat bore the signature of the president with a message -- "God Bless."
"I'll always remember today," Amy Walters said of the meeting. "I am so proud of my brother. I miss him, and it is still hard. He was my best friend. But when it is your time, it is your time."
Walters and her family weren't the only ones who had the opportunity to meet with the president.
Yvette Burridge's meeting with the president was two years in the making.
Four years ago, Burridge's son, Pfc. David Burridge, died while serving with the Marines in Iraq. Two years after his death, Yvette Burridge wrote a letter to President Bush asking for a meeting with him, unsure if it would happen.
But it did.
"(A man with Bush's administration) had told me President Bush saw my letter and wanted to meet with me, but he didn't know when," Burridge said. "He knew it would be before the president left office."
She received a call Friday, however, that transformed her wish into actuality. She was able to bring her daughter and son-in-law along for the visit.
"I'm glad to have gotten this time," she said of her 20-minute meeting with Bush. "It was a dream come true."
On Monday afternoon, she stood in front of the metal barricades on Million Air's runway with a framed picture of her son clutched to her chest, a tissue tightly gripped in her hand. Burridge watched the president ascend the stairs to Air Force One and slowly waved.
Though she said she would rather not reveal the topics she talked about with the president, she did feel he was "very much listening" to her as she spoke as if he were "just a hometown man."
"I got to tell him what my son wanted me to," Burridge said. "I told (Bush) that if he could run again, I would vote for him."
Ellie
Families of fallen servicemen meet with president
By Abbey Brown and David Dinsmore
abrown@thetowntalk.com, ddinsmore@thetowntalk.com
As President Bush made his way up the steps of Air Force One at Alexandria International Airport, Amy Walters looked up with a smile and waved her arms. She mimicked tossing out a fishing line and held her hand up to her ear like a telephone.
Bush had promised to call Walters -- who lives outside of Houston -- for a fishing trip when he moved back to Texas. She'd been writing him ever since she was a Texas third-grader and he was governor of Texas. But she still had a "giant crush" on him.
"I never thought I'd meet him," she said Monday, still a little breathless from the visit. "Especially under these circumstances."
Walters was one of several family members of slain servicemen who met with the president inside Million Air's terminal after his economic roundtable in Alexandria earlier Monday afternoon.
"I sat on the sofa with him, and he held my hand," she said of Bush. "He was very nice. We talked about my brother, and he knew all about what he did."
Walters was just 16 when her brother, Leroy Sandoval Jr., was killed in Fallujah, Iraq -- the first U.S. Marine killed there.
Now 21, she sat next to the leader of the free world talking about the heroic exploits of her brother killed when he, too, was 21 on March 26, 2004.
"I was so nervous I threw up in the bathroom before the visit," Walters joked. "I was shaking. But he was down to earth."
The two talked about what Sandoval did in Iraq, and Walters pointed out that Bush knew the details of what happened to Sandoval.
"He said he knew that my brother had saved over a third of his platoon and that he was very proud of him," she said. "He even knew his name."
Sandoval's mother, Zaida Walters, and stepfather, Steve Walters, held between them a worn-out cowboy hat that belonged to Leroy Sandoval. Zaida held it close to her heart, momentarily covering the picture of her son she wore to show Bush. The hat bore the signature of the president with a message -- "God Bless."
"I'll always remember today," Amy Walters said of the meeting. "I am so proud of my brother. I miss him, and it is still hard. He was my best friend. But when it is your time, it is your time."
Walters and her family weren't the only ones who had the opportunity to meet with the president.
Yvette Burridge's meeting with the president was two years in the making.
Four years ago, Burridge's son, Pfc. David Burridge, died while serving with the Marines in Iraq. Two years after his death, Yvette Burridge wrote a letter to President Bush asking for a meeting with him, unsure if it would happen.
But it did.
"(A man with Bush's administration) had told me President Bush saw my letter and wanted to meet with me, but he didn't know when," Burridge said. "He knew it would be before the president left office."
She received a call Friday, however, that transformed her wish into actuality. She was able to bring her daughter and son-in-law along for the visit.
"I'm glad to have gotten this time," she said of her 20-minute meeting with Bush. "It was a dream come true."
On Monday afternoon, she stood in front of the metal barricades on Million Air's runway with a framed picture of her son clutched to her chest, a tissue tightly gripped in her hand. Burridge watched the president ascend the stairs to Air Force One and slowly waved.
Though she said she would rather not reveal the topics she talked about with the president, she did feel he was "very much listening" to her as she spoke as if he were "just a hometown man."
"I got to tell him what my son wanted me to," Burridge said. "I told (Bush) that if he could run again, I would vote for him."
Ellie