Posted on 12/20/2013 7:38:05 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
MADISON, Wisc. – He was a little guy, not much bigger than James Madison in high school.
Ryan Larson wrestled for his Adams-Friendship High School team at 103 pounds.
He joined the Army in his junior year. Ellen Larson said her grandson made the minimum weight requirement, maybe, in uniform with a fully loaded backpack.
He was a little guy, but like the fourth U.S. president, Ryan Larson, according to his family and friends, had an inner strength and perseverance that was unstoppable.
That’s a big reason why he enlisted and looked forward to serving his country in Afghanistan.
Larson’s mother, RaeAnne Larson, wasn’t so excited about her son’s military ambitions. She was reluctant to sign the recruitment papers sending her only child off to a war in a country that seemed a million miles away from their home in the Adams County village of Friendship.
“She didn’t really want to sign,” Ellen Larson recalled. “Ryan said, ‘You might as well sign, mom. I’m going to be 18 in a couple of months and then I’ll sign and I’ll never speak to you again.’” He was joking, but he was that committed to his mission.
The soldier left for basic training on June 15, 2010. He was killed exactly one year later by a bomb explosion not long after removing insurgent bodies from a roadside near Kandahar Province.
Private First Class Ryan Larson was 19.
Ellen Larson, who helped raise her grandson alongside her single-parent daughter from the time he was an infant, cannot extricate the memory of the day that army vehicle pulled up to her home. The soldiers had come to say that her soldier, her boy, was dead.
“My daughter and I, not long before it happened, said we hoped we would never have to see one of those Army cars pull into our driveway,” Ellen Larson said. “I walked down the hall and saw them standing at the door. I just screamed. I just knew it was about my boy.
“It was probably the worst day of my life, to see these guys standing there. My daughter told them they could leave. She knew what they were there for.”
Two and a half years later, the loss remains heavy on the Larsons’ hearts. Gone is the bright kid, the honor student, the multi-sport athlete, the student council president, the young man with a “twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face which made him a friend of all.” Gone is the kid with the caring heart, and all of that potential.
But Ryan Larson’s passion to serve his country, to put himself in harm’s way for his fellow soldiers and his countrymen, lives on in the legacy of his short but purposeful life.
On Saturday, the American Legion in the Town of Rome, Wis., will be dedicated the American Legion Ryan Larson Post 65. The ceremony begins at 10 a.m., and will include a presentation of the colors, guns salute and the reading of letters of acknowledgement from U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, and Gov. Scott Walker. Lawmakers, including state Rep. Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa, will be in attendance.
“Ryan’s mother has been a stalwart trying to help people understand that Ryan went above and beyond the call of duty,” Krug said. “He was a great student, a bright kid, who laid it all on the line for us.”
The lawmaker said his 72nd Assembly District may be a rural area, but it has always fulfilled the promise of remembering its fallen service members – from the Wood County Veterans Memorial to the Wautoma World War II Memorial Building.
PFC Larson’s name is carved out in smaller memorials around his hometown, including a bench at his old school. It includes a fitting tribute to the fallen soldier, words of honor from the New Testament’s John 15:13.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
DEDICATED SOLDIER: PFC Ryan Larson, of Friendship, Wis., was killed in 2011 while serving in Afghanistan. On Saturday, the American Legion in the Town of Rome, Wis., will be officially dedicated the American Legion Ryan Larson Post 65 at a ceremony. PHOTO: Department of Defense
R.I.P., soldier. A simple “Thanks” for your service is not enough. Not nearly enough.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
A young man who could not Legally drink a beer.
But he is old enough to die for his country.
My condolences to his loved ones, so sad a young man dying for a country most people in his own land no longer believe is worth the death of one of our young men.
While this country cuts our military to the bone and even cuts retirement benefits for his fellow soldiers.
We need to leave Afghanistan before one more soldier dies.
And obama racks up another one. The man is a serial murderer. How much longer?
We sacrifice many of our very best to keep the pieces of $hit in power in Washington. For what, exactly?
When will we end this?
He looks about 12, doesn’t he? I can’t imagine the pain his mom and grandmom are feeling.
Where's the letter from Tammy Baldwin?
Pain without hope is what hurts me the most. I hope he knew the Lord. Either way, it’s time for these brave men to come home and focus on the home front.
I will pray for this family today, and hope others here join me.
Always remember that the human waste in this Administration and in this Congress are doing all they can to take from our military and our veterans!!!
RIP.
Maybe someone reading can help, I believe a scholarship fund was set up in his name, but I can't find a link anywhere.
He was an admirable young man (stress YOUNG) and a great loss to his family and to the nation. It’s a tough way to get a building named after you!
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