Posted on 02/24/2004 7:30:18 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
Madisonville soldier dies
A memorial service was held aboard the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Peleliu in Apra Harbor yesterday, and more than 2,100 servicemen gathered to pay their respects to Cpl. Adam Lipford. Soldier drowns as deployment neared its end
By Greg LaRose
MADISONVILLE - Lynelle Lipford admits she is a proud single mother who has led a life of struggles and learned to overcome them. It is in that vein that she is attempting to deal with the death of her only child, 22-year-old Marine Cpl. Adam Lipford, who drowned Tuesday when the tank he was riding in fell off a hovercraft in Apra Harbor, Guam.
Lipford, a tank commander, was deployed with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Iraq. He was due to return to the United States next month and planning to get married in May. But Tuesday his body was recovered about two hours after the accident, and his body will be escorted back to Louisiana by members of his platoon.
An investigation into the accident that killed the young Madisonville man is ongoing, according to 13th MEU spokesman Capt. Bill Pelletier. Lipford was alone in the M1-A1 Abrams that was being transported to the dock landing ship Germantown when it fell off the hovercraft and sank in 90 feet of water.
Lipford's unit was in the fourth day of an end-of-deployment equipment washdown on a Guam beach at the time of the accident. The 13th MEU was nearing the end of a seven-month deployment that had taken Marines and sailors to the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kenya and traveled homeward through Australia and Guam.
While in Iraq, Lipford's platoon was part of a police force that patrolled the country after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
A memorial service was held aboard the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Peleliu in Apra Harbor yesterday, and more than 2,100 servicemen gathered to pay their respects to Lipford. He was awarded the Marine Corps Achievement Medal for his performance as a squad leader in Kenya earlier this year.
Lt. James Kozel, a tank commander who served with Lipford, said the corporal would entertain his platoon with stories about eating crawfish in Louisiana.
"He kept the whole platoon going. He was the glue that held us together," Kozel said.
Lynelle Lipford described her son in similar terms, referring to him as her "mentor" as she battled a recent illness.
"He was my best friend. We had a lot of hard times together, and we always made it through them," she said. "He had a hard life, but he always kept his faith in God. When I last talked to him he was excited about coming home and starting a family."
Lipford said her son was planning to marry Andriana Trujillio on May 29. He met Trujillio, the daughter of a retired Marine, while stationed in California. He was also planning to attend college after serving another four-year stint with the Marines.
Lynelle and Adam Lipford relocated to Madisonville from Ponchatoula two years ago. When Adam was younger Lynelle said she sent him to live with friends when she was forced to sleep in her car to make ends meet. She currently lives alone in a modest house with Social Security as her only source of income.
"He always understood and loved me," said Lynelle. "We knew we didn't have a lot, but we always knew we had each other."
Adam was a student at Ponchatoula High School when he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps, and he eventually earned his general equivalency diploma while involved in military training.
One of his friends from Ponchatoula was Dustin Pritchard, who also left school early to join the Marines. Pritchard also earned his GED and is currently stationed at Camp Pendelton, Calif., awaiting his second deployment to Iraq.
Pritchard's mother, Jeanette O'Dell, remembers the friendship her son had with Lipford growing up and had maintained through their service in the military. She said Thursday she had not been emotionally able to talk with Pritchard about Lipford's death.
"Adam was so proud to be a Marine," said O'Dell, who now lives in Danville, Ill. "Dustin and Adam were the best of friends, and you won't find a better young man. He was very close to his mother. She was everything in his life, and he was all she had in hers."
Lynelle said keeping in touch with her son while he was serving in Iraq was difficult, especially when doctors were treating her for a life-threatening heart ailment. She keeps a card Adam wrote to her at the time at hand and read from it while reflecting on his death.
"I believe things happen for a reason," he wrote. "It may be no specific reason, but there is one. At the same time I wonder or question why some things happen and why things are the way they are. Could any good come from someone having to struggle for 95 percent of their life?"
His letter continued with a reference to a passage in the Bible.
"...He who lives according to the word and has no treasures here will have great ones in heaven. That's my version of it."
Lipford said she spoke most recently with her son earlier this month when his unit was in Australia. She said he called every day for four days while on a short liberty and talked optimistically about his future.
"He inspired me," said Lipford. "He made me feel as though everything would be all right.
"I wish everyone could know that what he talked about with me was not about having a lot of money, a big house or anything like that," she continued. "It was about our relationship, about truly having a son who loves his mother and a mother who loves her son. He died knowing that was how I felt about him."
They were on the way HOME FROM the sand box, and to have this happen. You kind of hold your breath for weeks, you check the news for everything, but some articles you skip, you cannot look, you cannot think about. Then a rumor, they are coming home early! It turns out true! You can take a breath. Some of the unit went to Australia, some Singapore they can have some fun on the way home. Stop in Guam, stop in Hawaii and home. To have made almost the whole tour and be killed on the way home, is about as bad as it can get. I know this because our son is in this unit.
Please pray for Cpl. Lipford and his mother.
Cpl. Adam Lipford, may you rest in eternal peace. We thank you for your service.
May God Bless you and have you in his arms now.
Thank you for your very honorable service.
USS Peleliu - the tradition cannot get any deeper.
May God watch over all of our brothers and sisters in arms.
LVM
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