Posted on 09/27/2005 1:21:13 PM PDT by BushisTheMan
When Delta Flight 1880 landed late Saturday at Logan International Airport in Boston, the pilot went on the intercom to make a request of the passengers preparing to grab their carry-on bags: Sit for a moment and honor a fallen soldier.
"The pilot said, 'We have a hero on this flight and sadly, he isn't with us, but his mother is escorting his remains,' " said Barbara Bell, sister of Sgt. Pierre A. Raymond, 28, an Army reservist from Lawrence, Mass., who died Tuesday in Germany after being wounded in Iraq.
The normal bustle of an emptying airplane immediately ceased, she said.
"He went on to say that 'a sergeant from the Army is escorting them as well,' and then (the pilot) thanked him for doing what he did and for keeping us safe and free."
As Raymond's mother, Santina, got up to walk off the plane, her fellow passengers gave her a standing ovation.
"I was thankful that he was remembered like he was angel," said Santina Raymond, who spent Sunday at her Lawrence home preparing for her son's funeral on Wednesday. "He was a hero, so everybody cheered. It was wonderful. He was wonderful."
Pierre Raymond died from injuries sustained after a Sept. 15 attack near Ramadi, Iraq, where he was hit in the chest and neck with flying shrapnel while in his sleeping quarters. Immediately after he was wounded, Raymond was talking and even flirting with the nurses who treated him, said Bell, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif. But military doctors in Iraq couldn't stop the bleeding and sent Raymond to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for emergency treatment, where he was kept alive until his family arrived.
"We were all flown out on military orders," said Bell, also a former reservist.
The family stayed at Raymond's side during his last hours.
"Pierre just had this capacity that very few people have. . . . This capacity for life," said Bell, 30. "Even as a kid, we don't have many family photos of him because he was always running in the park."
Bell said her brother joined the Army in 1998 and spent 13 months in Bosnia as a military mechanic. He was discharged in 2001, she said, and spent some time traveling before being called back in the National Guard to serve with the 228th Forward Support Battalion, 28th Infantry Division, which supported a Marine Expeditionary Force. Raymond was dispatched for retraining and arrived in Kuwait in June. He'd barely been in Iraq a week before he was wounded.
For two weeks prior, he called his mother nearly every morning at 6 a.m., Boston time, his sister said. "He'd even sent letters saying Kuwait was kind of boring," Bell said. "He was waiting to be attached to a unit."
Raymond went to high school in Salem High School in New Hampshire and attended Northern Essex Community College for a short time. He enjoyed fixing cars and joined the Army in part to use his skills as a mechanic. In Iraq, he was maintaining Bradley fighting vehicles.
A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Patrick Church in Lawrence.
Besides his mother and sister, Raymond leaves his father, David, of Londonderry, N.H.; and two brothers, Joseph, 26, and Alfio, 32.
E-mail: asamuels@globe.com
This is why I don't think the anti-war movement is making ANY grounds with Americans - no matter what the OLD MEDIA says.
Also made me recall another girl named Barbara Bell. A real beauty I knew in my youth.
I agree with you.
And a Salute to a fallen brother...
My prayers with his family.
I agree.
I live in the Boston area, and we have Jay Severin on conservative talk radio (yes, we do have it up here)
While Jay can be entertaining, and is apparently going national, he gets hysterical about the WOT, which is not helpful.
He forgets the important advice, that our POW's in Vietnam frequently gave to each other, which is: "Keep a steady strain". Basically, it means don't get too high, don't get too low.
As a country, that is what we need to do. We need to be in it for the long haul. Osama Bin Laden made the observation in 1998 that our national will was weak, we would run from a fight, and that we had no national staying power in a conflict.
I disagree, but the MSM and Liberals are doing everything in their power to agree with him.
I would agree, Steelerfan. By the way, you guys really made us pay for that victory last weekend...:(
Damn, I can barely see my keyboard.
Must be the humidity in here.
He had less success the first time around than howie (howie is locally oriented).
First, we have a VOLUNTEER Military.
You are so right, and a point that is always conveniently overlooked by the left. I would also add that we have a PROFESSIONAL military.
Me too, dude, so don't feel bad.
Why is it that conservatives still get tears in their eyes when the flag passes by in a parade?? While at the same time, the left wing moonbats want to burn the flag??
May I have that feeling of pride in my country until my last breath. And may lightning strike me down if I ever vote for a democRAT (other than Zell Miller)
So true!
"I was thankful that he was remembered like he was angel," said Santina Raymond, who spent Sunday at her Lawrence home preparing for her son's funeral on Wednesday. "He was a hero, so everybody cheered. It was wonderful. He was wonderful."
Makes Cindy Sheehan look like vomit!
or not. Either way, they did the right thing.
Respect is not dead (hopefully).
You had better hope that I don't bump into Cindy Sheehan. I've told my friends to take up a collection for bail money, just in case!!
What a media whore she is!!
NPR had two moms (1 terrorist-supporter and 1 for the good side).
The "good" mom did a pretty good job. I was cheering her on and she said it was an "all volunteer Army" this time. Good for her.
However, we need to beat home the fact that the anti-war group is nothing but an odd mixture of rag-tag causes that lumped together (and even with their EXTREME hatred of President Bush) still couldn't get many to Washington DC.
clap clap (because I couldn't be there in person)
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