thedrifter
02-16-09, 07:28 AM
Marines mobilize to help wounded brother
on 02-15-2009 19:43
By JOSEPH B. NADEAU
BELLINGHAM — It began with one Marine reaching out to other Marines to do what they could for a wounded member of the Corps.
The outreach from a Marine Corps League member in San Antonio, Texas, eventually put James Hastings, a retired local Marine, into action with fellow members of the Massachusetts Marine League chapter seeking support for the family of Marine Lance Corporal Kevin Preach of Bridgewater.
Preach was severely wounded by an improvised explosive device while out on patrol in Afghanistan on Jan. 24 and had been airlifted back to the military hospital in San Antonio where his mother, Laurie Hayes, was staying with him.
Initially, the group sought to put the word out about Preach so that other Marines could send words or notes of encouragement to his family, according to Hastings.
“The League in San Antonio had contacted our state commandant and asked our chapter to keep tabs on this Marine and to see if we could do anything for his family,” Hastings said.
As e-mails about Preach began circulating between members of the Massachusetts Marine support group and similar organizations around the country, the news about the wounded soldier took on a somber outlook.
As Marine Capt. Susan A. Stark of the Corps’ New England Wound Warrior Regiment began to collect more information from Preach’s family and the Corps and send it onto the Marine veterans, it became clear the soldier’s wounds were overwhelmingly severe.
He had lost both legs and part of an arm in the explosion and also sustained severe burns, according to the Marine Captain. Stark help organized donations to Preach’s family in support of their stay in Texas.
By February 5, Stark emailed the Marines the situation in Texas was grim and asked that they pray for Preach and his family.
The news came as Preach’s brother, Dan Preach, neared graduation from the Marine training base at Camp Lejeune, South Carolina, and planned to follow in his brother’s military career and that of his late father who had also been a Marine.
Capt. Stark sent out a message on Feb. 8 announcing that Preach had passed away at 10:15 p.m. the night before.
The effort to rally support for Preach drew a follow-up note of thanks from Hastings who told his correspondents that a folder containing expressions of their sympathies would be presented to his mother and brother at his funeral services with full military honors in Bridgewater on Wednesday.
Hastings said Friday he expects more than 50 members of his group to visit the Marine’s wake at the Prophett, Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home at 98 Bedford St., Bridgewater, Tuesday evening, and then also attend his funeral at the Central Square Congregational Church at 71 Central Square, Bridgewater, Wednesday at 11 a.m.
The services will conclude at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.
It is a role Hastings has taken on more that 15 times for fallen Marines since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began in 2003.
“That what Marines do, they look out for each other,” Hastings said.
Hastings own son, Staff Sgt. Robert Hastings, is currently a member of the Marines, and has served three tours of duty in the war zone since 2003.
Hastings and his peers in the Marine support group had been especially touched to learn that Mrs. Hayes went to Parris Island to attend her son’s graduation ceremony on Friday before returning home to Massachusetts.
“Mrs. Hayes has to have the strength of a Marine Rifle Company,” Hastings said of the Marine Corps mother in a note to his group announcing the effort to offer her condolences.
Hastings said he hopes no other Massachusetts Marines will be lost in the war. “You pray that that it doesn’t happen,” he said. “But if it does we will be there doing what we can.”
Ellie
on 02-15-2009 19:43
By JOSEPH B. NADEAU
BELLINGHAM — It began with one Marine reaching out to other Marines to do what they could for a wounded member of the Corps.
The outreach from a Marine Corps League member in San Antonio, Texas, eventually put James Hastings, a retired local Marine, into action with fellow members of the Massachusetts Marine League chapter seeking support for the family of Marine Lance Corporal Kevin Preach of Bridgewater.
Preach was severely wounded by an improvised explosive device while out on patrol in Afghanistan on Jan. 24 and had been airlifted back to the military hospital in San Antonio where his mother, Laurie Hayes, was staying with him.
Initially, the group sought to put the word out about Preach so that other Marines could send words or notes of encouragement to his family, according to Hastings.
“The League in San Antonio had contacted our state commandant and asked our chapter to keep tabs on this Marine and to see if we could do anything for his family,” Hastings said.
As e-mails about Preach began circulating between members of the Massachusetts Marine support group and similar organizations around the country, the news about the wounded soldier took on a somber outlook.
As Marine Capt. Susan A. Stark of the Corps’ New England Wound Warrior Regiment began to collect more information from Preach’s family and the Corps and send it onto the Marine veterans, it became clear the soldier’s wounds were overwhelmingly severe.
He had lost both legs and part of an arm in the explosion and also sustained severe burns, according to the Marine Captain. Stark help organized donations to Preach’s family in support of their stay in Texas.
By February 5, Stark emailed the Marines the situation in Texas was grim and asked that they pray for Preach and his family.
The news came as Preach’s brother, Dan Preach, neared graduation from the Marine training base at Camp Lejeune, South Carolina, and planned to follow in his brother’s military career and that of his late father who had also been a Marine.
Capt. Stark sent out a message on Feb. 8 announcing that Preach had passed away at 10:15 p.m. the night before.
The effort to rally support for Preach drew a follow-up note of thanks from Hastings who told his correspondents that a folder containing expressions of their sympathies would be presented to his mother and brother at his funeral services with full military honors in Bridgewater on Wednesday.
Hastings said Friday he expects more than 50 members of his group to visit the Marine’s wake at the Prophett, Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home at 98 Bedford St., Bridgewater, Tuesday evening, and then also attend his funeral at the Central Square Congregational Church at 71 Central Square, Bridgewater, Wednesday at 11 a.m.
The services will conclude at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.
It is a role Hastings has taken on more that 15 times for fallen Marines since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began in 2003.
“That what Marines do, they look out for each other,” Hastings said.
Hastings own son, Staff Sgt. Robert Hastings, is currently a member of the Marines, and has served three tours of duty in the war zone since 2003.
Hastings and his peers in the Marine support group had been especially touched to learn that Mrs. Hayes went to Parris Island to attend her son’s graduation ceremony on Friday before returning home to Massachusetts.
“Mrs. Hayes has to have the strength of a Marine Rifle Company,” Hastings said of the Marine Corps mother in a note to his group announcing the effort to offer her condolences.
Hastings said he hopes no other Massachusetts Marines will be lost in the war. “You pray that that it doesn’t happen,” he said. “But if it does we will be there doing what we can.”
Ellie