thedrifter
07-05-03, 07:01 AM
Spirit of independence is alive, doing well aboard the Tarawa
By David Hasemyer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 4, 2003
PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII – Liberty and independence have a new meaning for Lance Cpl. Douglas Baerwolf.
"Freedom," he said, "is not given. It's earned."
A year ago, the 20-year-old Marine wasn't quite so reflective.
He spent last July 4 in a small Wisconsin town, hanging out with his best buddy from high school.
But now he has been in a war, taking the point for an infantry fire team of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton. The harrowing experience of cautiously walking into harm's way has made him see things more deeply.
"It does give you pause to think," he said.
Baerwolf is among more than 4,000 mostly young Marines and sailors in the Tarawa Amphibious Ready Group heading home from the North Arabian Gulf and Iraq. Hawaii is its last stop before reaching San Diego next week.
The Marines and sailors streamed off the Tarawa and sister ships Duluth and Rushmore late Wednesday, excited about getting liberty, exhausted after their six-month deployment and proud of their part in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
They carried sea bags slung heavily over their shoulders.
But like Baerwolf, they carried something else: a new and profound appreciation of the cost of freedom.
Baerwolf has matured beyond the kid who graduated high school just a couple of years ago in Rio, Wis.
The outward changes are easily perceptible. He's not a lanky boy anymore. He's a stout young man.
What is less obvious is what he has learned from the world.
Like so many of the Marines and sailors hurrying from the Tarawa, for Baerwolf, Independence Day is no longer mainly about beers and backyard barbecues. It's a personal thing now. Something that wells within the heart and soul.
"Before this I didn't understand the sacrifices made for our freedom," Baerwolf said. "Now we've had experience first hand in fighting for independence. That gives you a perception that cannot be found in a history book."
It can only be found in one's spirit.
Take 24-year-old Seaman Nancy Hernandez.
"When you see how some people don't have the same freedoms we have, it makes you grateful for the freedoms," she said. "It's something you feel, something you know."
Although these Marines and sailors come from vastly different backgrounds, some from refinement, some from hardscrabble lives, they all seem to have a common new perspective on independence.
Lance Cpl. Joel Benjamin, 21, of Stamford, Conn. doesn't hesitate to express what that meaning is to him.
"We have a duty to ensure our freedom," he said.
He pauses to explain that he is not wrapping himself in the flag, but standing up for what's right.
That doesn't necessarily mean taking up arms in conflict. It can mean sticking up for individual rights and civil liberties with the passion of Martin Luther King or Robert Kennedy.
"You don't have to fight a war. You have to fight for a belief," he said.
Growing up, Seaman Tara Donovan understood the sacrifices made by her father, a Vietnam veteran.
"I knew what he did, but now I have such a better appreciation for it," she said.
Just like the fathers and mothers from past wars, this generation comes home with the feeling that freedom is not easily won or easily preserved.
Lance Cpl. Madhar Sawhney, 20, a native of India who calls Houston home, said until his experience in Iraq as a truck driver he had only a basic sense of America's roots.
"I understand the sacrifices made by the forefathers to shape this country," he said. "Freedom is a real thing, not just something that we talk about. We have to honor and preserve the meaning of freedom."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20030704-9999_1n4tarawa.html
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
By David Hasemyer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 4, 2003
PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII – Liberty and independence have a new meaning for Lance Cpl. Douglas Baerwolf.
"Freedom," he said, "is not given. It's earned."
A year ago, the 20-year-old Marine wasn't quite so reflective.
He spent last July 4 in a small Wisconsin town, hanging out with his best buddy from high school.
But now he has been in a war, taking the point for an infantry fire team of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton. The harrowing experience of cautiously walking into harm's way has made him see things more deeply.
"It does give you pause to think," he said.
Baerwolf is among more than 4,000 mostly young Marines and sailors in the Tarawa Amphibious Ready Group heading home from the North Arabian Gulf and Iraq. Hawaii is its last stop before reaching San Diego next week.
The Marines and sailors streamed off the Tarawa and sister ships Duluth and Rushmore late Wednesday, excited about getting liberty, exhausted after their six-month deployment and proud of their part in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
They carried sea bags slung heavily over their shoulders.
But like Baerwolf, they carried something else: a new and profound appreciation of the cost of freedom.
Baerwolf has matured beyond the kid who graduated high school just a couple of years ago in Rio, Wis.
The outward changes are easily perceptible. He's not a lanky boy anymore. He's a stout young man.
What is less obvious is what he has learned from the world.
Like so many of the Marines and sailors hurrying from the Tarawa, for Baerwolf, Independence Day is no longer mainly about beers and backyard barbecues. It's a personal thing now. Something that wells within the heart and soul.
"Before this I didn't understand the sacrifices made for our freedom," Baerwolf said. "Now we've had experience first hand in fighting for independence. That gives you a perception that cannot be found in a history book."
It can only be found in one's spirit.
Take 24-year-old Seaman Nancy Hernandez.
"When you see how some people don't have the same freedoms we have, it makes you grateful for the freedoms," she said. "It's something you feel, something you know."
Although these Marines and sailors come from vastly different backgrounds, some from refinement, some from hardscrabble lives, they all seem to have a common new perspective on independence.
Lance Cpl. Joel Benjamin, 21, of Stamford, Conn. doesn't hesitate to express what that meaning is to him.
"We have a duty to ensure our freedom," he said.
He pauses to explain that he is not wrapping himself in the flag, but standing up for what's right.
That doesn't necessarily mean taking up arms in conflict. It can mean sticking up for individual rights and civil liberties with the passion of Martin Luther King or Robert Kennedy.
"You don't have to fight a war. You have to fight for a belief," he said.
Growing up, Seaman Tara Donovan understood the sacrifices made by her father, a Vietnam veteran.
"I knew what he did, but now I have such a better appreciation for it," she said.
Just like the fathers and mothers from past wars, this generation comes home with the feeling that freedom is not easily won or easily preserved.
Lance Cpl. Madhar Sawhney, 20, a native of India who calls Houston home, said until his experience in Iraq as a truck driver he had only a basic sense of America's roots.
"I understand the sacrifices made by the forefathers to shape this country," he said. "Freedom is a real thing, not just something that we talk about. We have to honor and preserve the meaning of freedom."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20030704-9999_1n4tarawa.html
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: