thedrifter
10-28-08, 08:38 AM
BOOK REVIEW
Chronicling an officer's grim duty
By Michael Kenney | October 28, 2008
For the family, there is first the unexpected knock at the door, and the sight of a sharply uniformed military officer waiting with a solemn expression on his face, and screams of anguish.
For that officer, as Jim Sheeler writes in "Final Salute," the Casualty Notification mission "starts with a long walk to a stranger's porch and an outstretched hand sheathed in a soft white glove." His account of the young wives turned widows and the dreaded messengers is written with a firm control that heightens the emotional pull of his story.
Major Steve Beck, the Marine Corps officer who allowed Sheeler to accompany him, described those first minutes at the door bluntly: "The curtains pull away. They come to the door. And they know. They always know. You can almost see the blood run out of their body and their heart hit the floor."
"Final Salute," a finalist for the National Book Award, began as reporting for the Rocky Mountain News, reporting that won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2006. In the book, he focuses on the impact that the deaths of five men in Iraq had on their families, and on Beck and other military personnel who brought notification of their deaths, aided and comforted their families, stood guard over their bodies, and performed the final salutes.
Among the events Sheeler recounts are those involving Katherine Cathey, pregnant widow of Second Lieutenant James Cathey. She asked that she be allowed to spend a final night by his coffin, and an air mattress and pillows were found for her. Sheeler stayed with members of the Marine honor guard who were standing watch, hour by hour, by the coffin throughout the night. "We would have stayed as long as Katherine wanted us there tonight," one of the Marines told Sheeler.
It is Beck who carries Sheeler's account along. A career Marine in his 40s, he had been preparing for medical school when the Persian Gulf War started. As Sheeler describes him, Beck had a strict sense of mission.
Beck spoke once of watching the reactions of passengers who had been asked to remain in their seats while the coffin of a fallen Marine was rolled out of the cargo bay. They would sit, watching the Marines take the coffin from the cargo bay. "They're going to remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They're going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should."
Beck was making much the same point when he talked with Sheeler about the Remembering the Brave ceremonies he organized after learning that many medals won by fallen servicemen were unceremoniously mailed to the next-of-kin. As described by Sheeler, accounts are given of the combat events that resulted in the Marine's death, then his medals are brought out and presented to the surviving families. He hopes to organize similar events throughout the country.
"Why do you have to keep reminding them?" Beck said he has been asked.
As if he were addressing "every person who hasn't felt what those families have," he said, "This is not about reminding them. This is about reminding you."
Ellie
Chronicling an officer's grim duty
By Michael Kenney | October 28, 2008
For the family, there is first the unexpected knock at the door, and the sight of a sharply uniformed military officer waiting with a solemn expression on his face, and screams of anguish.
For that officer, as Jim Sheeler writes in "Final Salute," the Casualty Notification mission "starts with a long walk to a stranger's porch and an outstretched hand sheathed in a soft white glove." His account of the young wives turned widows and the dreaded messengers is written with a firm control that heightens the emotional pull of his story.
Major Steve Beck, the Marine Corps officer who allowed Sheeler to accompany him, described those first minutes at the door bluntly: "The curtains pull away. They come to the door. And they know. They always know. You can almost see the blood run out of their body and their heart hit the floor."
"Final Salute," a finalist for the National Book Award, began as reporting for the Rocky Mountain News, reporting that won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2006. In the book, he focuses on the impact that the deaths of five men in Iraq had on their families, and on Beck and other military personnel who brought notification of their deaths, aided and comforted their families, stood guard over their bodies, and performed the final salutes.
Among the events Sheeler recounts are those involving Katherine Cathey, pregnant widow of Second Lieutenant James Cathey. She asked that she be allowed to spend a final night by his coffin, and an air mattress and pillows were found for her. Sheeler stayed with members of the Marine honor guard who were standing watch, hour by hour, by the coffin throughout the night. "We would have stayed as long as Katherine wanted us there tonight," one of the Marines told Sheeler.
It is Beck who carries Sheeler's account along. A career Marine in his 40s, he had been preparing for medical school when the Persian Gulf War started. As Sheeler describes him, Beck had a strict sense of mission.
Beck spoke once of watching the reactions of passengers who had been asked to remain in their seats while the coffin of a fallen Marine was rolled out of the cargo bay. They would sit, watching the Marines take the coffin from the cargo bay. "They're going to remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They're going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should."
Beck was making much the same point when he talked with Sheeler about the Remembering the Brave ceremonies he organized after learning that many medals won by fallen servicemen were unceremoniously mailed to the next-of-kin. As described by Sheeler, accounts are given of the combat events that resulted in the Marine's death, then his medals are brought out and presented to the surviving families. He hopes to organize similar events throughout the country.
"Why do you have to keep reminding them?" Beck said he has been asked.
As if he were addressing "every person who hasn't felt what those families have," he said, "This is not about reminding them. This is about reminding you."
Ellie