thedrifter
03-23-08, 05:42 PM
Brother, sister served in Iraq after mother's death
Justin Weber was a mortuary affairs specialist; Shannon Evans got Purple Heart.
By Richard Wilson
Staff Writer
Sunday, March 23, 2008
The second time Justin Weber walked into the Butler County Coroner's Office in 2000, he was looking for a job.
Medical secretary Sally Poynter remembers recognizing him as the same 19-year-old who walked in two years earlier clutching his mom's framed picture to his chest. The same teenager who, on June 9, 1998, tried to save his mother, Lisa Weber, from being shot to death by her ex-boyfriend, Franklin Saunders.
"The coroner was apprehensive. But our fears were for naught," Poynter said.
Weber had character and inner strength that emanated from him, Poynter said, and his training as a mortuary affairs specialist in the U.S. Marines made him uniquely qualified to work in the morgue.
Weber, a 1997 graduate of Hamilton High School, where he wrestled and played football, worked as a transporter until he was called to active duty.
It was the beginning of the Iraq War, and the first of three tours Weber served. His job was to pick up the bodies of U.S. soldiers who had been killed during the march on Baghdad in 2003.
The 28-year-old Fairfield resident remembers also burying several dead enemy soldiers during the march, observing the Islamic tradition of interment with the body pointing toward Mecca.
The enemy burials continued until coming upon ambush sites, where there were too many to deal with.
"We still had our orders," Weber said, recalling clearing the road of enemy bodies that were blocking their way, and sometimes driving over them.
The worst day by far, Weber said, the one that stays with him the most, is the day he processed 10 dead U.S. Marines in November 2005. He believes they were killed while clearing a home that was rigged with explosives.
"Words can't describe it. I remember standing in the middle of all the dead Marines ... feeling hopelessness, helplessness. I don't think there was an emotion I didn't feel," he said. "So much death in just a matter of moments is a traumatic experience."
Weber said one of the toughest parts of his job was gathering the soldiers' belongings — the photos and letters they carried with them — and seeing the faces of loved ones who didn't know their son or father had died.
Weber returned in 2006 and now works as an investigator in the county coroner's office. Poynter said Weber has a lot of empathy for victim's families, and now offers his knowledge and skills to help others.
"He couldn't do anything for his mom then, but maybe he can help others now in her memory," Poynter said.
A spiraling life
to a Purple Heart
Justin's younger sister, Shannon Evans, said her mother's death made it hard to finish high school.
"After my mother passed away, I got heavily involved in drinking and drugs as a way to deal with all my grief and anger," Evans said. "I found comfort in things that I knew were unhealthy for me."
While attending Columbus State Community College, Evans said she was in financial debt and didn't know what she wanted to do in life. Seeing her brother return from boot camp, Evans said she was impressed and decided she wanted to fight for the country as a U.S. Marine.
"I see it as a big honor," Evans said.
While serving as an MP in Iraq in August 2006, Evans was on patrol at night searching the road side for improvised explosion devices. Evans was traveling in a Humvee with other MPs on the same stretch of road they had just cleared, when she heard a deafening blast.
Evans was knocked unconscious for about five minutes. The vehicle she was in had run over an IED.
"My body was like a ping pong inside the Humvee," said Evans, who suffered nerve damage in her shoulder from the attack, but returned to active duty. Evans said she was awarded a Purple Heart in October 2006.
"I feel honored to have it, and I'm glad it was me and not someone else. It's my job to protect people ... but I would give it back in a heartbeat not to have injuries," Evans said.
Evans said she hopes not to be redeployed now that she's starting a family with her husband, Henry Evans, a fellow MP, and their newborn son, Cayden. The 27-year-old is going to school while working on a military base in Miramar, Calif. She said she wants to be a history teacher.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2122 or rwilson@coxohio.com.
Ellie
Justin Weber was a mortuary affairs specialist; Shannon Evans got Purple Heart.
By Richard Wilson
Staff Writer
Sunday, March 23, 2008
The second time Justin Weber walked into the Butler County Coroner's Office in 2000, he was looking for a job.
Medical secretary Sally Poynter remembers recognizing him as the same 19-year-old who walked in two years earlier clutching his mom's framed picture to his chest. The same teenager who, on June 9, 1998, tried to save his mother, Lisa Weber, from being shot to death by her ex-boyfriend, Franklin Saunders.
"The coroner was apprehensive. But our fears were for naught," Poynter said.
Weber had character and inner strength that emanated from him, Poynter said, and his training as a mortuary affairs specialist in the U.S. Marines made him uniquely qualified to work in the morgue.
Weber, a 1997 graduate of Hamilton High School, where he wrestled and played football, worked as a transporter until he was called to active duty.
It was the beginning of the Iraq War, and the first of three tours Weber served. His job was to pick up the bodies of U.S. soldiers who had been killed during the march on Baghdad in 2003.
The 28-year-old Fairfield resident remembers also burying several dead enemy soldiers during the march, observing the Islamic tradition of interment with the body pointing toward Mecca.
The enemy burials continued until coming upon ambush sites, where there were too many to deal with.
"We still had our orders," Weber said, recalling clearing the road of enemy bodies that were blocking their way, and sometimes driving over them.
The worst day by far, Weber said, the one that stays with him the most, is the day he processed 10 dead U.S. Marines in November 2005. He believes they were killed while clearing a home that was rigged with explosives.
"Words can't describe it. I remember standing in the middle of all the dead Marines ... feeling hopelessness, helplessness. I don't think there was an emotion I didn't feel," he said. "So much death in just a matter of moments is a traumatic experience."
Weber said one of the toughest parts of his job was gathering the soldiers' belongings — the photos and letters they carried with them — and seeing the faces of loved ones who didn't know their son or father had died.
Weber returned in 2006 and now works as an investigator in the county coroner's office. Poynter said Weber has a lot of empathy for victim's families, and now offers his knowledge and skills to help others.
"He couldn't do anything for his mom then, but maybe he can help others now in her memory," Poynter said.
A spiraling life
to a Purple Heart
Justin's younger sister, Shannon Evans, said her mother's death made it hard to finish high school.
"After my mother passed away, I got heavily involved in drinking and drugs as a way to deal with all my grief and anger," Evans said. "I found comfort in things that I knew were unhealthy for me."
While attending Columbus State Community College, Evans said she was in financial debt and didn't know what she wanted to do in life. Seeing her brother return from boot camp, Evans said she was impressed and decided she wanted to fight for the country as a U.S. Marine.
"I see it as a big honor," Evans said.
While serving as an MP in Iraq in August 2006, Evans was on patrol at night searching the road side for improvised explosion devices. Evans was traveling in a Humvee with other MPs on the same stretch of road they had just cleared, when she heard a deafening blast.
Evans was knocked unconscious for about five minutes. The vehicle she was in had run over an IED.
"My body was like a ping pong inside the Humvee," said Evans, who suffered nerve damage in her shoulder from the attack, but returned to active duty. Evans said she was awarded a Purple Heart in October 2006.
"I feel honored to have it, and I'm glad it was me and not someone else. It's my job to protect people ... but I would give it back in a heartbeat not to have injuries," Evans said.
Evans said she hopes not to be redeployed now that she's starting a family with her husband, Henry Evans, a fellow MP, and their newborn son, Cayden. The 27-year-old is going to school while working on a military base in Miramar, Calif. She said she wants to be a history teacher.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2122 or rwilson@coxohio.com.
Ellie