Posted on 08/17/2005 5:28:13 AM PDT by Born Conservative
Celeste Zappala always believed her son Sherwood Baker was headed for great things. But he never made it past age 30.
On April 26, 2004, the sergeant with the 109th Field Artillery was killed by an explosion in Baghdad, leaving a wife and then-9-year-old son behind in Plymouth Borough.
"You live with it. But there's no way to make it right. I miss him every day," Zappala said, growing choked up. "We live in another universe now. I can see what the old universe looks like, but we are in another universe.
"No more blood," she said, and started to cry. In the aftermath of her son's death, Zappala became friends with another "Gold Star" mother, Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., whose 24-year-old son Casey was killed in action in Iraq just 22 days before Baker.
Since Aug. 6, Sheehan has been in Crawford, Texas, at "Camp Casey," a few miles down the road from President Bush's ranch, vowing to remain throughout his vacation unless he agrees to meet with her and other family members of deceased soldiers. Zappala, a co-founder with Sheehan of Gold Star Families for Peace, said, "She told me she was doing this, and I thought it was important to go stand with her."
So, Zappala and her son Dante packed T-shirts featuring a family photo and the inscription, "We Mourn Our Hero," and left Philadelphia Aug. 9, returning Aug. 14. She described her experience in Crawford as "amazing" and full of "high-pitched" emotion.
"Everything was intense. The weather was hot; when it rained, it poured. It was beautiful country," she said. But, surrounded by other parents who had lost their children and were struggling to find answers, Zappala found it difficult to keep her composure. "The whole time I was just at the height of tears and emotion, just working hard at keeping myself together," she said.
She acutely felt the loss of her son, who she was sure would have been glad to be there. She reflected fondly that Baker, who had a radio show at King's College and was known across the Wyoming Valley for spinning tunes at clubs and parties under the name "DJ Phantom," would have set up the sound for Saturday's rally in no time.
Over the weekend, about 25 people also with family members who were either killed in Iraq or currently serving there joined Sheehan in Crawford to make a statement.
"It's just real people speaking out about their own families. It's not celebrities, it's not talking heads on CNN," Zappala said.
Asked whether she believes Sheehan's actions will have an influence on Bush, Zappala replied: "It's a very annoying presence, I'm sure. I'm just hoping that it has a long-term effect. I don't think he will actually want to meet with any of us."
Sherwood was proud to serve - he loved his country and was a patriot, his mother said - but she believes his leadership let him down.
"I never want this to be, on my side anyway, denigrating to people's willingness to do service," Zappala said. "We need a military. There's a lot of danger in the world. But they need to be treated with the utmost respect for who they are, and never unnecessarily put in harm's way." The Bush administration never clearly articulated its reasons for the war, which is costing $1 billion a week, Zappala said.
"I think they have absolutely no idea what they're doing," she said. "I think we're getting to the point where normal, reasonable people are starting to see that. "The war has to stop. We don't want anyone else killed. We're here to support the troops, to bring them home now, alive. ... My little piece in all this was to say, 'We've got to tell the truth.'"
Sheehan and Camp Casey have drawn worldwide attention, some supportive, some opposing. Despite the remoteness of the location, the site is teeming with press, Zappala said.
"Everybody is recording everything all the time, in the most unlikely setting: Very bucolic, wide open sky, cows mooing in the background, yet in this little space there's so much technology," she said.
She has done about 75 interviews herself since last Tuesday, many with small talk radio outlets. Some callers don't agree with her, but Zappala said she tries to speak with them in a way that there is an exchange of ideas rather than an argument.
"People have to stop yelling at each other and get some honest discussion, some honest dialogue," she said. One example came on Saturday, when a pro-war faction arrived at Camp Casey to counter the peace vigil.
A woman named Kathleen Hernandez had made approximately 800 white crosses to signify war casualties. The counter-protesters decorated the field of crosses with American flags, to honor the soldiers who died fighting for their country, Zappala said.
"We had flowers; they put flags. They were being respectful. We were being respectful," she said. "But the person with the truck - I can't even imagine the motivation."
Larry Northern, 46, of Waco, Texas, was arrested Tuesday and charged with criminal mischief for mowing down the crosses with his pickup truck Monday night. When the counter-protesters found the crosses were broken and flags were desecrated, they joined Sheehan's group in putting them back up, Zappala said.
"That's way more than a political statement. That's a statement of love and truth. These are the people who died for us," she said.
Tell that to the islamists.
If we've all become like her and Sheean, then we're all a nation of cowards.
And I think she doesn't think enough, or is incapable of thinking clearly. The reasons for this war were clearly stated, and if her and her band of leftist lunatics can't see that then they should go home and think some more.
Like all lunatic leftists, she thinks that we can just pack up and leave, and all the terorism in the world will just magically go away. Fighting this war over there is far more preferable to fighting it here, and if we don't stop those who support and breed terrorism over there, we'll be fighting it here. Over 3000 people died in one day, none of them were in the army. If that's the kind of country she prefers to live in, then sure, lets bring the boys home. Then when her other kid gets killed while sitting in a pizza shop that gets blown up by some Islamic wacko, she'll be crying that we didn't do enough to stop terrorism. We are in the situation we are in because Democrat governments ignored this problem for the past 35+ years, allowing Islamic Jihad to grow more powerfull. Hundreds of thousands-millions- have been killed because of it around the world during this time. It can't be ignored any longer, and Now we have a President that isn't afraid to take action on an unpopular issue.
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I'm serious.
Well said.
A lot of these type articles have been appearing here lately. One thing that I have noticed about a lot of these mothers, on both sides of the debate, is that their last names are not the same as their sons'. For right or wrong that always taints my appreciation for that mother's position.
"The US is not at war with IRAQ.
The US government is in a war WITH IRAQ against a scourge on this planet."
Perhaps more accurate:
The US is at war in the Iraq Theater against the scourge of islamic fascism on this planet.
Nearly 7000 Marines died on Iwo Jima during WWII so these mama's can complain. This is not grieving it is complaining. We were attacked by the Japanese. We fought them. We were attacked by Islamic terrorist. We are fighting them. Those who died on 9/11 didn't have a chance to defend themselves. They were not in the Armed Forces of the United States. At least the Japanese did their dirty work against the Military at Pearl Harbor, mainly the Navy. Of course civilians were killed also. The only thing these mama's are doing is providing aid and comfort to their enemies and ours.
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