Deadly Week in Iraq Ends in Tears for the Fallen

[thedrifter]

April 15, 2004
Deadly Week in Iraq Ends in Tears for the Fallen
By MONICA DAVEY

ROOKFIELD, Wis., April 14 — In a small town near Dallas, people lined the streets and waved flags for a funeral procession for Sgt. Gerardo Moreno of the Army. In Bradenton, Fla., Bach and Brahms were played in honor of Pfc. Christopher R. Cobb of the Marines, who had played the violin in high school. In Memphis, friends and family met for a viewing of Capt. Brent Morel of the Marines, whose relatives say he died fulfilling a mission he believed was worthwhile.

And here in the Milwaukee suburbs, family, friends and even strangers grieved over the death of Specialist Michelle M. Witmer, and some expressed anger at the prolonged sacrifice that had been demanded of her National Guard unit.

"At this point, I want to just go over and bring her home myself," an anguished Marie Galonski said of her own daughter, Specialist Juliana Bruening, who is in Specialist Witmer's unit and trained alongside her. "They said Juliana would be home in a year, and every time you turn around, it's another delay. Now I'm terrified and angry. The way I'm looking at this, this should have never happened to Michelle."

Although President Bush declared major combat over almost a year ago, last week was the deadliest yet for Americans in uniform. The Department of Defense identified 64 service members who died in the week that ended on Saturday. Until then, the highest toll had come many months ago, not long after the start of the war last March, in a week when 50 Americans died.

The dead came from cities and small towns across the continental United States, as well as from Puerto Rico and the Mariana Islands. They came from all the major service branches — the Air Force, Navy, Army, Marines, as well as the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve.

They were as young as 18, as old as 45. At least two were women.

And this week their remains were returned home.

The death of Specialist Witmer, who was killed when her Humvee was attacked in Baghdad, attracted considerable attention after her father, John, urged his other daughters, who are also serving in the Guard in Iraq, to stay home after the funeral instead of returning to the units that they consider their other families. The sisters have not said what they will do.

But in the crowd that filled the church here Wednesday night to honor Specialist Witmer, relatives of other Wisconsin National Guard members were torn by the question. The death of Specialist Witmer, 20, brought the mounting dangers on the streets of Baghdad into clear focus for these military families of the 32nd Military Police Company. And then came the news that their own soldiers — Specialist Witmer's colleagues — would have to stay in Iraq even longer than planned, their tours extended by as much as four months.

Some families of the 32nd said they would accept the delay, just as they had the war. Others, though, were weighing whether to fight it. Some signed petitions. Others announced a rally to oppose it. And on a Web site for the unit's families, worries came tumbling forth. "It's been over a year, and she needs to be home," one man wrote of his soldier. "She is tired and can only handle so much. She is losing hope, and I need her too."

As chilling scenes of deadly skirmishes and hostage-taking played out in Iraq, funerals, one after the next, began filling long days in places like this. In different corners of the country, as the total American death toll climbed above 670, the eulogies, the salutes, the coffins came faster than ever.

Friends here said Michelle Witmer and her two sisters had joined the Guard to help pay for college. Michelle Witmer signed on in January of 2002. From Iraq, she sent home long dispatches describing the violence she had seen, the time she came close to vomiting at the sight of a bloodied Iraqi, the chaos at the Baghdad police station where she worked, the crazed traffic and maniacal driving, and the children.

"The children literally swarm you," she wrote. "Smiling little toddlers wave and cry after us saying, `Misses, misses . . . please water, please food.' These children usually wander around in filthy clothes and no shoes. Some of them can't be more than 4 years old. It breaks my heart not to be able to give them anything."

Because of her death, Michelle Witmer's sisters, Specialist Rachel Witmer and Sgt. Charity Witmer, get to decide whether to finish their time in Iraq, said Lt. Col. Tim Donovan of the Wisconsin National Guard. But other members of the Guard, who expected to return home in early May, learned on Sunday that they were being ordered to stay as long as 120 more days.

"We're disappointed in this development too," Colonel Donovan said on Wednesday. "We had been looking forward to welcoming them home, and we certainly understand the concern of the family members."

Elsewhere, there were other scattered signs of protest.

In Washington on Wednesday, two dozen military families, most members of Military Families Speak Out and Veterans For Peace, carried hundreds of carnations — one for each dead service member — to the White House gates, saying they wanted President Bush to halt what they consider an unjustified war. "It is our loved ones who are being used as cannon fodder," said one organizer, Nancy Lessin, the mother of a marine who served in Iraq.

But at many of the funerals and wakes around the country on Wednesday, there was little talk of politics or policy. There was only room for memories.

As church bells tolled in Terrell, Tex., people stood silently along the streets as a hearse drove by. Some held flags. Others saluted Sergeant Moreno, 23, who died on April 6 in Ashula, Iraq, when fighters attacked his unit with a rocket-propelled grenade.

"We're out here because of what that boy did for all of us," said Laura Dodson of Terrell. "He made the ultimate sacrifice. How could we not be out here to show our support? I wanted to show the family that we back them and we appreciate what he did."

Businesses in Terrell let their employees leave work to watch the 10-minute procession through town.

Before he left for Iraq, Sergeant Moreno told his wife, Teresa, and his mother, Sandra Iracheta, that he had a feeling he would not be coming back.

"And yet he went with the courage that only the Holy Spirit can give and he went with pride and love for his career and vocation in the Army," said the Rev. Michael Forge. "He died so the Iraqi people could share in the possibility of freedom."

Private Cobb, the violin player from Florida, found himself in Iraq because he had deep passion for being a marine, his mourners said at his funeral Wednesday, and because he wanted to help his mother. He went to Iraq a few months ago, his friends said, and died from hostile fire in Al Anbar Province on April 6.

Private Cobb, 19, signed up for the Marines last September, in part because he wanted to earn enough to buy his mother a home of her own, said Louis Blumenberg Jr., a relative. The family had always lived in an apartment, Mr. Blumenberg said.

In high school, he had loved music.

"He was good," said Richard Jorgensen, the director of orchestras at Bayshore High School. "He was not one of my flashy front row players, but he was a kid who knew that there is more to music than playing. He would stay after a performance and help put all the equipment away."

In Memphis on Wednesday, another long line of people waited to pass a coffin where Captain Morel's body bore his Marine uniform.

Captain Morel, 27, hoped to become a four-star general some day, his father, Mike, said. He died on April 7 in Falluja.

Mr. Morel said he struggled to even speak about his son now. But he also said the recent string of deaths, even that of his own son, had not shaken his feelings that the war in Iraq was the right thing.

"This war has to be fought to conclusion," Mr. Morel said in the parking lot outside his son's visitation. "It can't be fought with velvet gloves. I do not want those men and women to die in vain. I'll be mad if they do."

continued.....

[thedrifter]

Captain Morel, his family said, loved his wife, his dog, jogging and the Marines. "He died the way he would have wanted to die, leading his men," said Ray Mullins, his father-in-law.

In New Castle, Del., a school bus joined the procession that rolled through steady drizzle toward the Delaware Memorial Veterans Cemetery. The bus driver, Dawn Boyce, carried a young crew of R.O.T.C. members to the burial of Lance Cpl. Anthony P. Roberts, 18, of the Marines. For three years, Ms. Boyce drove him on field trips with this R.O.T.C. crew, before he left for Iraq.

"He was too young to go," Ms. Boyce said. "He was a good kid. The best example of a good kid I can offer you."

Timothy James, his cousin, had a different name for him: "the dean of bravery." Corporal Roberts's father died when his son was young, Mr. James said. His funeral drew an eclectic crowd: young girls from his high school and Vietnam veterans on Harley-Davidsons.

By Wednesday, more funerals had already happened, and others would come in the days ahead.

Among the dead: Lance Cpl. Christopher Ramos, 26, of Albuquerque, an avid baseball player with an 18-month-old daughter; Specialist Jonathan R. Kephart, 21, of Oil City, Pa., , who joined the military after the Sept. 11 attacks; Specialist Isaac Michael Nieves, 20, of Unadilla, N.Y., whose wife, Amy, said he decided the military was where he needed to be; Lance Cpl. Elias Torrez III, 21, of Veribest, Tex., who was known to his friends as E. T. and had hoped to be home in a few months; and Specialist Robert R. Arsiaga, 25, of San Antonio, who joined the Army to become a man, his mother said.

On Tuesday night, in Vacaville, Calif., more than 800 mourners filled a Catholic Church to remember Specialist Casey Sheehan of the Army, who died just two weeks after he arrived in Iraq. His convoy was ambushed during a rescue mission outside Baghdad. Friends at his funeral Tuesday said he had volunteered for the dangerous rescue mission — a typical choice, they said, for someone who had always volunteered in the church, in the Boy Scouts, everywhere.

But here, in this crowd of friends and family and neighbors, many wrestled with their own feelings about Iraq now. Not all agreed even on what to wrestle with. Some said they had grown impatient with the war, but felt a deep need to support the troops.

"Most people here know enough to separate the issues," said Charles Albidress, a longtime family friend. "Should we be there, versus now that we are there we must respect and support the troops."

Paul Pagarigan, a family friend and Eucharistic minister at St. Mary's Catholic Church, said Specialist Sheehan, 24, had followed the right course, doing the work he loved and helping others. "We need to combat these terrorists. They are holding the country and the world hostage. We have to root them out. This is a war between good and evil."

But others at the funeral had doubts. Bob Vollmer, Specialist Sheehan's Boy Scout leader, said: "I support the troops. But I don't understand why we are still over there."

And Specialist Sheehan's, aunt, Dede Miller, said the death had made her think it was time for the United States to leave.

"The insanity needs to stop," Ms. Miller said.

At the Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery, a brisk wind forced three honor guards, instead of the usual two, to fold the flag. Then three volleys of gunfire, in Specialist Sheehan's honor, filled the air.


Reporting for this article was contributed by Sara Kennedy in Florida, Carolyn Marshall in California, Elisabeth Olson in Washington, Laura Griffin in Texas, John Branston in Tennessee and Charles Cohen in Delaware.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/15/na...rint&position=


Ellie


Rest In Peace

[thedrifter]

Marine remembered for bravery under fire
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification Number: 200441474113
Story by Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald



CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq(April 13, 2004) -- Joshua Ayon, son of Pfc. Eric A. Ayon, turned 7 years old April 11, two days after his father was killed in action in Iraq.

The elder Ayon joined the Marine Corps in June 2003 and was a motor transportation operator with Truck Company, 1st Marine Division. At the time of his death, the Los Angeles Marine was attached to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment supporting the division's security and stabilization mission here.

Marines from Truck Company attended a remembrance service here April 12 to honor Ayon's contribution to the Corps.

"Pfc. Ayon was a very squared-away Marine," said Pfc. Jesus R. Aguilar, motor transportation operator. "The very first day we got to the barracks at Camp Pendleton, he put all his stuff in its proper place because he wanted to be ready to go at a moment's notice."

According to Aguilar, the 26-year-old devout Catholic was excited at the prospect of deploying to Iraq with an infantry unit.

Ayon provided transportation support to 2nd Battalion's Quick Reaction Force and to the Marines sweeping many of the main supply routes near Ar Ramadi.

During a convoy April 9, Ayon's seven-ton vehicle came under heavy enemy small-arms fire.

"When his assistant driver became injured and unable to move," explained Capt. Terence M. Connelly, Truck Company's commander, "Pfc. Ayon left the safety of cover to move the Marine out of harm's way."

Soon after rescuing his assistant driver, Ayon heard the vehicle's machine gunner crying for help from the top of the truck. Ayon braved enemy fire again jumping to the turret and pulling the injured Marine to a secure location for treatment.

His selfless actions saved the lives of two Marines, but Ayon did not make it out of the firefight to celebrate.

"He was not only a great Marine, but a great man as well," said Lance Cpl. Chris T. Snyder, a motor transportation operator from Cedartown, Ga. "He would always go out of his way to help another Marine."

Aguilar agreed with Snyder's remarks and said he was not surprised by Ayon's life-saving performance during the battle.

"It was just like him to do what he did," he said. "I always knew he'd do something great."

Ayon and Aguilar, of Santa Ana, Calif., were planning to meet again after the deployment to share their war stories and to plan their futures in the Marine Corps.

"Ayon wanted to be a drill instructor one day," 18-year-old Aguilar said. "He was always my mentor."

To achieve his dreams, Ayon drew strength from his religion and his family. Every day, he thanked the Virgin Mary for his high school sweetheart and wife Angelina and their son.

"He held the times he spent with his family as the most precious," Aguilar said. "I know he's up in Heaven now looking down on me so I can return home to watch over his family for him. He'll be missed."



A memorial ceremony was held here April 12 in remembrance of Pfc. Eric A. Ayon, motor transportation operator from Truck Company, 1st Marine Division. Ayon, of Los Angeles, was attached to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment for his deployment to Iraq. Ayon was killed during a firefight April 9 but was able to save two Marines before being struck down.
(USMC photo by Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald) Photo by: Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn20...4?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Indianapolis Marine eulogized as one having patriotic feeling

By: Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS -- A Marine who was shot and killed in Iraq last week was buried Thursday after being eulogized as a man who joined the military less than a year ago after feeling a patriotic calling.

Pfc. Deryk L. Hallal, 24, received full military honors during the burial service at Crown Hill Cemetery's new Field of Valor for veterans. He died April 5 after being shot in the al-Anbar province west of Baghdad. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

During Hallal's funeral at College Park Church, the Rev. Don Bartemus said he was moved when Hallal's mother told him the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks inspired her son to join the military.


"He went into the Marine Corps to fight for all that's right and good and to free people from oppression," Bartemus said.

Hallal was a rifleman with the 2nd Battalion 4th Marine Regiment based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He had arrived in Iraq in late February.

The Rev. Steve DeWitt, the church's youth pastor, praised Hallal's passion to serve in the military.

"For our country, freedom is blood shed on the battlefield, and we are humbled today by Deryk's sacrifice," DeWitt said.

"No bugle or flag can ever capture the gratitude we feel for those who paid the ultimate price so we could live in the land of the free and the home of the brave," DeWitt said.

Hallal was the 22nd person from Indiana to have died in the Mideast during the war in Iraq.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004..._144_15_04.txt


Ellie


Rest In Peace