thedrifter
08-08-09, 06:54 AM
Jeremy Lasher: Quiet Marine touched many lives
Saturday, August 8, 2009
By JODY McNICHOL
Dispatch Staff Writer
ONEIDA — He was born into a family with a tradition of military service.
Three uncles are former Marines, one is Air Force, five of his cousins are in different branches of the service. His relatives have fought in the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf wars. And he and his brother had the modern wars covered fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Though Afghanistan may have been where life ended for Lance Cpl. Jeremy Lasher, it began in Oneida.
Last Saturday, his life was mourned and honored at the American Legion in Oneida. On Wednesday, relatives again gathered there to talk about the son, brother, nephew and cousin they will miss and remember.
Lasher’s mother and stepfather, Vicky and Scott Arnold, brother Lance Cpl. Ryan Lasher and his wife Deb, sister Jennifer Makepeace and cousin Andy Maxfield sat around a table in the Legion telling stories about the 27-year-old.
Jeremy Lasher graduated from basic training in 2007 and was stationed in Camp LeJeune.
He lived in base housing with his high school sweetheart, wife Andrea, also from Oneida, and young son Caden.
He joined the Marines after his younger brother Ryan graduated from basic training in 2006. Lance Cpl. Ryan Lasher, now 25, is stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Ryan has served two tours in Iraq.
Jeremy was called for his first deployment three weeks before his son, Caden, was born. Jeremy’s sister Jennifer stayed in North Carolina with his wife, Andrea, and relayed the labor by phone, taping it for her brother. Later, while Jeremy was at home on leave, Andrea had him tape bedtime stories for the baby.
“Some day Caden will sit his son on his lap and say 'Grandpa Jeremy is going to read us a story,'” said Jeremy's mom.
Jeremy Lasher was quiet, a man of few words, precise and a perfectionist who loved to doodle. He went into the Marines to serve his country and make a difference. He loved to landscape. He was proud of his life, loved his family, loved to golf. He was cerebral. He would soak up knowledge.
He rarely spoke; when he did, people listened. Usually he was watching, listening and learning. He had no fear; he wasn't a quitter.
He was a talented musician who played the guitar, keyboard and drums, but didn't read music.
He loved elbow macaroni with milk and butter and chicken tenders, the Giants football team and Xbox Live.
“He had a passion for landscaping,” said Ryan. “He loved golf courses.”
“There were three things he wanted to do after the Marines,” said his younger brother. “Go to school for engineering, enter law enforcement or be a full-time firefighter.
They both worked at Kanon Valley Country Club.
“We worked at a golf course together. He got the job first and when I started he was so mad at me because I got to do the riding mower before he did,” said Ryan. “It was because he was such a perfectionist with the walking mower.”
“He was so specific about everything,” laughed his 29-year-old sister, Makepeace.
“Jeremy loved to golf,” said his stepfather, Scott Arnold. “It suited his personality. You were out in the sun, it was quiet, and you were trying to beat yourself at your game.”
“I would take him to Kanon Valley and he wouldn't say anything,” said Arnold. “The smile on his face said it all.”
To describe what Jeremy was like, Arnold and the gang of uncles all tell the same story.
When he was about a year old, the family lived with Vicky’s parents. “My father would come home from work and be in his chair watching television. Jeremy would get right in front of the television and reach for the knob to shut it off. Dad would say ‘don't touch that. Jeremy leave that alone.’ And Jeremy would shut it off and dad would pick him up, walker and all, and put Jeremy in the corner,” said Arnold. “After a while Jeremy would get back in front of the television, turn it off and put himself in the corner. Smiling the whole time.”
When the quiet boy spoke, they knew it was important. He didn't waste words. When asked a question, he answered it without any involved explanation.
His first full sentence when he was about two or three was, “Got my books, I'm going to school,” said Arnold.
“He was a man of few words,” said Ryan. “He talked a lot more after he became a Marine.”
The family sees Jeremy in Caden’s face and actions. “He's doing the same things and he is the spitting image of him,” said Makepeace.
“My favorite memory of Jeremy was when he was a baby,” said Uncle Bob Barker. “There was a barrier to keep him in the living room. It was just a hassock but he would get this look on his face and you knew he was going over.”
“It would take Jeremy a lot to blow up. He was very non-confrontational,” said Jeremy's mom, Vicky.
Because of his patience “he would rescue Ryan from me,” said his older sister Makepeace, 29.
She spoke at her brother's funeral telling the solemn mourners, “It's a big sister's job to watch out for her little brothers. Now I'll have to do double time with Ryan.”
Jeremy would often let Ryan get the best of him. One day Arnold told her passive son, “The next time Ryan gets the best of you, I’m gonna whup you for letting him.”
“I was sure surprised when, bam, he gave me my first bloody nose,” laughed Ryan, adding they were probably around 10 years old.
“When he started middle school he was very small, but he made the football team,” said Arnold. “He had splinters in his butt from sitting on the bench, but he never quit.”
Then he started rollerblading and skateboarding. “He would be rollerblading uphill backwards and we would be huffing and puffing to keep up,” laughed Makepeace.
“I remember one night the kids called me outside to see a trick. There were eight kids lying in the road and here comes Jeremy on skates,” said Arnold. He jumped over all of them. “I said, ‘Jeremy, next time please don't put your brother and sister on the ends.’ He just had no fear.”
Jeremy and Ryan spent a lot of time with their cousins, Andy, Billy and Chris. “We were more like brothers than cousins,” said Ryan. The group would go to Syracuse to skateboard.
“Jeremy engineered a ramp for a jump. He was very smart about everything,” said Ryan.
“And specific, everything had to exact,” added Makepeace.
“Especially when he was being chewed out,” said Arnold. “Once, by the time I was done, he had a complete baseball game, players and everything.
Vicky said she has a picture he drew of a lighthouse that she had framed. He also drew a picture of Copy Cats, the bar on Elm Street in Oneida, once owned by his stepfather.
“He had a visual memory, if he saw it he remembered it,”said Ryan.
“His memory was impeccable,” said Makepeace. “I once called him to find out an old address and he still remembered it more than five years later.”
Recently, Ryan had done the paperwork for reenlistment. He had mistakenly left out one part. He found out his request had been denied before his mom called to let him know about Jeremy.
Now he’s decided not to reenlist.
“I'm done in February of 2010,” said Ryan, who was going to be a “lifer.”
“I like the Marines, I like what we do, but I'm not going back in.”
“If Ryan chose to reenlist, we would support that decision,” said Arnold, adding, “even though what happened to Jeremy.”
“Jeremy loved being a Marine and he loved his life,” said Arnold. “Being a son, father, brother, husband, Marine, firefighter, it was all important to him.”
“We're Barkers and we have a motto, ‘We have each other's back,’” said Arnold.
“Until this past week, I never understood the passion one Marine has for another,” said Scott Arnold. “It's their job, but it's so much more than that. They cared, they went above and beyond. They took care of everything. The honor guard, the Patriot Guard took care of us.”
“They made sure what needed to be done was taken care of but we were their first priority,” said Makepeace. “They said they would be there for us. Not just now, but forever.”
While family and friends mourned Lasher’s death and honored his life in the City of Oneida last week, friends and family in a city in Massachusetts and one in Pennsylvania did the same for their fallen sons. The three Marines were killed on July 23, in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan in the war called “Enduring Freedom.”
Lasher and Cpl. Nicholas Xiarhos, 21, died July 23 after their truck hit an IED while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Lasher and Xiarhos were driving in to aid in the evacuation of Sgt. Ryan Lane, 25, of Castle Shannon, Pa. who went down in a firefight.
Lasher's brother, Ryan, described what all Marines know, “when one Marine goes down, another goes in.”
“Jeremy was driving the truck, Nicholas was the vehicle commander. In the back were two Marines, they were going in for support,” said Ryan.
The family doesn’t know who the two Marines in the back of the truck were or what their conditions are.
Ellie
Saturday, August 8, 2009
By JODY McNICHOL
Dispatch Staff Writer
ONEIDA — He was born into a family with a tradition of military service.
Three uncles are former Marines, one is Air Force, five of his cousins are in different branches of the service. His relatives have fought in the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf wars. And he and his brother had the modern wars covered fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Though Afghanistan may have been where life ended for Lance Cpl. Jeremy Lasher, it began in Oneida.
Last Saturday, his life was mourned and honored at the American Legion in Oneida. On Wednesday, relatives again gathered there to talk about the son, brother, nephew and cousin they will miss and remember.
Lasher’s mother and stepfather, Vicky and Scott Arnold, brother Lance Cpl. Ryan Lasher and his wife Deb, sister Jennifer Makepeace and cousin Andy Maxfield sat around a table in the Legion telling stories about the 27-year-old.
Jeremy Lasher graduated from basic training in 2007 and was stationed in Camp LeJeune.
He lived in base housing with his high school sweetheart, wife Andrea, also from Oneida, and young son Caden.
He joined the Marines after his younger brother Ryan graduated from basic training in 2006. Lance Cpl. Ryan Lasher, now 25, is stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Ryan has served two tours in Iraq.
Jeremy was called for his first deployment three weeks before his son, Caden, was born. Jeremy’s sister Jennifer stayed in North Carolina with his wife, Andrea, and relayed the labor by phone, taping it for her brother. Later, while Jeremy was at home on leave, Andrea had him tape bedtime stories for the baby.
“Some day Caden will sit his son on his lap and say 'Grandpa Jeremy is going to read us a story,'” said Jeremy's mom.
Jeremy Lasher was quiet, a man of few words, precise and a perfectionist who loved to doodle. He went into the Marines to serve his country and make a difference. He loved to landscape. He was proud of his life, loved his family, loved to golf. He was cerebral. He would soak up knowledge.
He rarely spoke; when he did, people listened. Usually he was watching, listening and learning. He had no fear; he wasn't a quitter.
He was a talented musician who played the guitar, keyboard and drums, but didn't read music.
He loved elbow macaroni with milk and butter and chicken tenders, the Giants football team and Xbox Live.
“He had a passion for landscaping,” said Ryan. “He loved golf courses.”
“There were three things he wanted to do after the Marines,” said his younger brother. “Go to school for engineering, enter law enforcement or be a full-time firefighter.
They both worked at Kanon Valley Country Club.
“We worked at a golf course together. He got the job first and when I started he was so mad at me because I got to do the riding mower before he did,” said Ryan. “It was because he was such a perfectionist with the walking mower.”
“He was so specific about everything,” laughed his 29-year-old sister, Makepeace.
“Jeremy loved to golf,” said his stepfather, Scott Arnold. “It suited his personality. You were out in the sun, it was quiet, and you were trying to beat yourself at your game.”
“I would take him to Kanon Valley and he wouldn't say anything,” said Arnold. “The smile on his face said it all.”
To describe what Jeremy was like, Arnold and the gang of uncles all tell the same story.
When he was about a year old, the family lived with Vicky’s parents. “My father would come home from work and be in his chair watching television. Jeremy would get right in front of the television and reach for the knob to shut it off. Dad would say ‘don't touch that. Jeremy leave that alone.’ And Jeremy would shut it off and dad would pick him up, walker and all, and put Jeremy in the corner,” said Arnold. “After a while Jeremy would get back in front of the television, turn it off and put himself in the corner. Smiling the whole time.”
When the quiet boy spoke, they knew it was important. He didn't waste words. When asked a question, he answered it without any involved explanation.
His first full sentence when he was about two or three was, “Got my books, I'm going to school,” said Arnold.
“He was a man of few words,” said Ryan. “He talked a lot more after he became a Marine.”
The family sees Jeremy in Caden’s face and actions. “He's doing the same things and he is the spitting image of him,” said Makepeace.
“My favorite memory of Jeremy was when he was a baby,” said Uncle Bob Barker. “There was a barrier to keep him in the living room. It was just a hassock but he would get this look on his face and you knew he was going over.”
“It would take Jeremy a lot to blow up. He was very non-confrontational,” said Jeremy's mom, Vicky.
Because of his patience “he would rescue Ryan from me,” said his older sister Makepeace, 29.
She spoke at her brother's funeral telling the solemn mourners, “It's a big sister's job to watch out for her little brothers. Now I'll have to do double time with Ryan.”
Jeremy would often let Ryan get the best of him. One day Arnold told her passive son, “The next time Ryan gets the best of you, I’m gonna whup you for letting him.”
“I was sure surprised when, bam, he gave me my first bloody nose,” laughed Ryan, adding they were probably around 10 years old.
“When he started middle school he was very small, but he made the football team,” said Arnold. “He had splinters in his butt from sitting on the bench, but he never quit.”
Then he started rollerblading and skateboarding. “He would be rollerblading uphill backwards and we would be huffing and puffing to keep up,” laughed Makepeace.
“I remember one night the kids called me outside to see a trick. There were eight kids lying in the road and here comes Jeremy on skates,” said Arnold. He jumped over all of them. “I said, ‘Jeremy, next time please don't put your brother and sister on the ends.’ He just had no fear.”
Jeremy and Ryan spent a lot of time with their cousins, Andy, Billy and Chris. “We were more like brothers than cousins,” said Ryan. The group would go to Syracuse to skateboard.
“Jeremy engineered a ramp for a jump. He was very smart about everything,” said Ryan.
“And specific, everything had to exact,” added Makepeace.
“Especially when he was being chewed out,” said Arnold. “Once, by the time I was done, he had a complete baseball game, players and everything.
Vicky said she has a picture he drew of a lighthouse that she had framed. He also drew a picture of Copy Cats, the bar on Elm Street in Oneida, once owned by his stepfather.
“He had a visual memory, if he saw it he remembered it,”said Ryan.
“His memory was impeccable,” said Makepeace. “I once called him to find out an old address and he still remembered it more than five years later.”
Recently, Ryan had done the paperwork for reenlistment. He had mistakenly left out one part. He found out his request had been denied before his mom called to let him know about Jeremy.
Now he’s decided not to reenlist.
“I'm done in February of 2010,” said Ryan, who was going to be a “lifer.”
“I like the Marines, I like what we do, but I'm not going back in.”
“If Ryan chose to reenlist, we would support that decision,” said Arnold, adding, “even though what happened to Jeremy.”
“Jeremy loved being a Marine and he loved his life,” said Arnold. “Being a son, father, brother, husband, Marine, firefighter, it was all important to him.”
“We're Barkers and we have a motto, ‘We have each other's back,’” said Arnold.
“Until this past week, I never understood the passion one Marine has for another,” said Scott Arnold. “It's their job, but it's so much more than that. They cared, they went above and beyond. They took care of everything. The honor guard, the Patriot Guard took care of us.”
“They made sure what needed to be done was taken care of but we were their first priority,” said Makepeace. “They said they would be there for us. Not just now, but forever.”
While family and friends mourned Lasher’s death and honored his life in the City of Oneida last week, friends and family in a city in Massachusetts and one in Pennsylvania did the same for their fallen sons. The three Marines were killed on July 23, in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan in the war called “Enduring Freedom.”
Lasher and Cpl. Nicholas Xiarhos, 21, died July 23 after their truck hit an IED while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Lasher and Xiarhos were driving in to aid in the evacuation of Sgt. Ryan Lane, 25, of Castle Shannon, Pa. who went down in a firefight.
Lasher's brother, Ryan, described what all Marines know, “when one Marine goes down, another goes in.”
“Jeremy was driving the truck, Nicholas was the vehicle commander. In the back were two Marines, they were going in for support,” said Ryan.
The family doesn’t know who the two Marines in the back of the truck were or what their conditions are.
Ellie