Seeing a fallen soldier home

Washington Times.com ^ | Fri May 28, 2010 | By Colleen M. Getz

[grame]

His name was Marine Lance Cpl. Justin Wilson - although I did not know it when his life brushed mine on March 25 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Lance Cpl. Wilson was not there in the terminal that afternoon; at age 24 and newly married, he had been killed in Afghanistan on March 22 by a roadside bomb. A coincidence of overbooked flights led our lives to intersect for perhaps an hour, one I will never forget.

I did not meet his family that day at the airport, either, although we were there together that evening at the gate, among the crowd hoping to board the oversold flight. I did not know that I had a boarding pass and they did not. I did not know they were trying to get home to hold his funeral, having journeyed to Dover, Del., to meet his casket upon its arrival from Afghanistan.

I also did not know that they already had been stuck for most of the day in another airport because of other oversold flights. But I did not need to know this to realize what they were going through as the event unfolded and to understand the larger cause for it. No matter how we as a nation have relearned the lesson forgotten during Vietnam - that our military men and women and their families deserve all the support we can give them - despite our nation's fighting two wars in this decade, it is all too easy for most of us to live our lives without having the very great human cost of those wars ever intrude.

[Shannon]

Excellent article. Interesting how long it took for some people to give up their seats on the flight so the family of this dead soldier could get on-board. I have to wonder if people are becoming numb.

[grame]

I would hope that if this were the first time many had faced the possibility of offering a kindness to those who serve and their families and they chose not to, that after thinking on it long and hard, they would make a different choice the next time and each time there after.

It is very different when a war loss has touched close to you. My husband and I attended a service for a young man killed instantly by an ied and his town responded in a way that took our breaths away. Nearly four miles of people and flags and fire engines and ambulances and football teams and school children and an old, old war veteran who saluted each and every car that passed by him. Even now I am overcome. The first mile they were 3 and 4 deep. Most of us would not often be in an airport to give up a seat, but they could take their place in line to show gratitude and respect.

[Thank You Rush]

Indeed, it was an excellent article. The next to last paragraph asked an important question and I would hope that we all would be ready to honor this family and their fallen son.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Scheisskopf headline editor. Justin Wilson is a Marine not a soldier.

[Guenevere]

This young man has died, he has given his all for this country....

..the people at the airport SHOULD HAVE responded differently!

But providentially this woman who still has a heart & conscience ---a reporter....

..makes sure this story is broadcast far & wide!

We may never know how far & wide and deep the ripple effect of this young man's life & death will now be known!!!!!!!

God changes circumstances.....and I pray those grieving parents will forgive those uncaring people....and realize thier son did not die unknown.

[mommyq]

We Americans really can do something for those who are deployed. There are groups all over the country who send boxes of personal items to the soldiers. We can get involved and help out.

I have mentioned several times on this board that I make greeting cards for the heroes deployed. I send them to an organization called Operation Write Home. They send out thousands of cards every month so these guys can keep in touch with their families back home.

Sometimes I get to a point where I’m no longer interested, and then I read a thank you note from one of them. They truly know how to show gratitude.

Ultimately, I’m glad I found a way to do a small act of kindness for them. Of course, this article had me wondering if I would have stepped forward and inconvenienced myself for the good of a fallen hero.

[grame]

I see, but I must confess until I had a ‘soldier’ of my own, I didn’t see or distinguish between those terms. I wasn’t taught as a child to respect or honor vets, but as I grew older I thought I did, until I had one of my own and I thought I did, and then he went to Kosovo and I thought I did, and then he went to Iraq and I thought I did, and then two of his bunk mates were killed by an ied after they traded positions with my ‘Army’ guy because of a broken down vehicle. I am forever linked to those brave Army heroes who fell that day, and grateful in a much larger way to all those who fall defending our freedom.