Father, leader sees wounds of war
A Norfolk commander sees the reality of war from the perspectives of a 9/11 survivor, a military leader and the father of a Marine wounded in Iraq.
BY STEPHANIE HEINATZ
247-7821
February 19, 2007

NORFOLK -- In mid-September 2001, as the nation mourned the loss of thousands of people in the terrorist attacks just days before, Army Maj. Gen. Byron Bagby listened intently as President Bush declared war on terrorism.

"He said it would be a long war," Bagby recalled. "He said it would be a war different than anything we've experienced to date."

For Bagby, commandant of the U.S. Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, the president's prediction proved eerily accurate.

For him, it started on Sept. 11, 2001.

"I was in the Pentagon, on the Army staff," Bagby said. "My boss and I were watching CNN after the second plane hit the World Trade towers. He commented how lucky we were that the plane didn't hit the Pentagon."

Seconds later, "we heard a loud boom and felt this massive building vibrate."

Two of Bagby's soldiers were killed. One, a single mother, left behind a 6-year-old daughter.

Officially, the little girl was the soldier's next of kin, and Army policy dictates that an officer deliver news of the death in person. "The most challenging task I've had to perform in my entire life - physically, intellectually or emotionally - was to inform that 6-year-old that her mother had been killed."

A year later, on Sept. 12, 2002, Bagby was in South Carolina where his son - Cpl. Benjamin Bagby, then 23 - was graduating from the Marine Corps' boot camp. Benjamin Bagby had wanted to enlist, and Maj. Gen. Bagby stayed out of the way, offering advice only when asked.

"I've gotten lots of awards and commands and promotions up to two-star general," Bagby said. "But the proudest day of my entire life was ... when my son earned the eagle, globe and anchor as a U.S. Marine."

In 2003, both Bagbys deployed - the general to Afghanistan and the corporal to Iraq. Both made it home safely - that time.

In 2004, Cpl. Bagby returned to Iraq with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

He was a machine gunner, and on Aug. 25, 2004, was in Najaf attempting to loosen an insurgent stronghold. That morning, the son's platoon was clearing a series of buildings when "they were ambushed," Bagby said. "My son, being a machine gunner, was providing covering fire so other Marines, wounded Marines, could be pulled out of an alleyway."

A rocket-propelled grenade launched by the insurgents "detonated 5 feet from him," Bagby said. "It shattered his left hand ... did damage to his right hand, and left shrapnel in his thighs."

But he continued firing his machine gun.

"It wasn't until after the battle was over that his sergeant saw him carrying his machine gun in a cradle position."

His hand couldn't grasp onto it. Battle adrenaline was still running through him, and Cpl. Bagby didn't realize how badly he'd been hurt.

As a parent, when you get the call that your child has been wounded, "you don't know what to expect," Bagby said.

"You don't know how serious they're wounded, if it's life threatening, if they're about to lose a limb or eyesight."

Bagby immediately flew to Germany, where his son was arriving at a military hospital.

"When his flight arrived, I was able to welcome the plane when it first landed."

While relieved to see that his son could still walk and would heal, seeing the 50 other wounded troops on the plane was sobering. War, Bagby said, is "just flat-out dangerous."

"It was apparent to me that when you serve in combat, no matter what your age, no matter what your race, no matter what your rank or what service you're in, you are all vulnerable to sustain some type of wound. I saw it in spades that morning."

Twelve Marines were wounded alongside Cpl. Bagby in Najaf. Three were killed.

"He grew up in that experience," Maj. Gen. Bagby said. "And so did I."

Being the parent of a Marine going into battle was far harder than being a military officer leading young men and women into battle, he said.

"When my son was wounded, it made me take my job as a leader more seriously. It made me want to do everything I can to prepare America's sons and daughters to perform their military duties."

When a soldier is killed in a combat zone, the Army sends a general to preside over the military honors that take place when the person is buried.

"I've performed that duty 13 times" for troops killed in Iraq, Bagby said.

He's learned that "when someone passes away, the feelings of bereavement permeate throughout an entire town and community in ways that I cannot describe."

Or evade.

"It's hard to avoid the emotion associated with those events," Bagby said. "It's really hard to avoid the emotional dimension of performing those duties."

Ellie