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Shiva For A Soldier
The Jewish Week ^ | 04/11/2003 | Eric J. Greenberg

Posted on 04/11/2003 11:30:24 PM PDT by yonif

First Jewish casualty in Iraq War, the grandson of a rabbi, remembered as being ‘macho yet soft-hearted.’

Mark Asher Evnin wanted to improve himself, and the world, too. At 18, after graduating from Vermont’s South Burlington High School in 32 years, the well-liked student athlete and only child of Mindy Evnin joined the Marines.

So while his friends were taking freshman college courses, Mark was in basic training — much to his mother’s chagrin.

“My son, a Jewish Marine, how bizarre,” Evnin told The Jewish Week Tuesday. “We come from a professional Jewish family, rabbis, cantors and biochemists.”

Indeed, Mark’s grandfather is noted longtime Vermont Rabbi Max Wall, a graduate of Yeshiva University and ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He was an army chaplain during World War II and worked in the displaced persons camps. His wife, Miriam, was from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Mark’s uncle was the prominent Cantor Issac Wall from the prestigious Har Zion synagogue in Philadelphia.

But Mark chose his own path, with his mother’s support.

“One thing I let him do is make his own decisions in life,” she said.

Stationed at the Marine Corps base at Twentynine Palms, Calif., Mark read Harry Potter books, learned to balance a checkbook and became a Marine sniper.

“He would tell me, ‘Mom, in some ways I’m safer as a sniper because I’m more hidden, unlike the other guys in the infantry,’ ” Evnin recalled.

When President Bush ordered troops into Iraq, Mark flew out with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division.

On April 3, during a firefight on the way to Baghdad, his unit of 900 men came under heavy fire from an Iraqi bunker. Mark responded, firing a grenade launcher. But return fire caught him in the abdomen. He died while being whisked by helicopter to a hospital.

Thus, Cpl. Mark Asher Evnin last week became the first identified American Jew to die in the war on Iraq.

Friends and family remembered and honored the young soldier this week.

“I was so close to him,” Rabbi Wall said Tuesday as the family waited for word from Dover Air Force Base about when their loved one’s body would be flown home.

“He was a macho kind of guy, yet softhearted and gentle. He didn’t like Hebrew school too much, he didn’t like school too much, but he loved learning. He was a Jewish patriot who believed in this country and loved Israel.”

American flags were being flown at half-staff in the South Burlington School District by order of the superintendent. A small memorial was erected in his name.

“As a school and community we are pulling together to help Mark’s family and each other get through this difficult time,” said Patrick Burke, the principal at South Burlington High.

Burke recalled Mark as a hard-working student who was involved in athletics and excelled in electronic arts and imaging. Mark had played football and lacrosse; before enlisting he had joined the cross-country ski team. His second home was the imaging lab at the high school.

“At a faculty meeting on April 4 he was remembered as a kind, hard-working, well-liked student,” the principal said.

Mark’s mentor and technology teacher, Tim Comolli, shared stories of small and large favors Mark had done for him and others in the school. Football coach Joe MacDonald said Mark was quick to encourage others and never quit.

“Special education staff recalled how compassionate Mark was, telling of how he would make time for classmates with disabilities,” said Burke, who offered the school’s guidance department to counsel grieving students, teachers, alumni and staff.

Meanwhile, the family began sitting shiva Wednesday at Mindy Evnin’s Burlington home. A funeral service will be held at Ohavi Zedek Synagogue. The burial, with full military honors, will be at Hebrew Holy Society Cemetery.

Jonathan Koopman, a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle embedded with Mark’s unit, witnessed and wrote about the soldier’s last moments:

“A young corporal, standing next to one of the armored personnel carriers, fired a grenade launcher at an Iraqi bunker,” Koopman wrote. “He turned and caught a bullet in the gut. He went down. A medic went to work on him while the firefight continued 20 yards away. A unit commander says Evnin was awake and coherent, and angry about being hit.”

Koopman said Mark appeared to be in stable condition. But “he died aboard a Medivac helicopter before he could get to a surgical hospital in the rear.”

Evnin said her son had found himself after joining the Marines three years ago. He didn’t go to college because he thought he wasn’t ready.

“He wanted to prove to himself that he could really meet a challenge,” she said, “and he told me some time after basic training he was so proud to discover he could be really good at something and he felt really good about himself.”

Evnin was stunned when Mark wrote that he and his Marine buddies got into the Harry Potter books. She sent him two more volumes.

“I loved it. All these rough, tough, macho guys who I’ve seen in photos drinking beer and acting stupid, and here they were reading Harry Potter,” she said.

Arriving in Kuwait, Mark wrote to his mother that he was glad to be there and eager to begin fighting for his country.

In his last letter, which she received just days before the war started, Mark wrote that he had decided to go college and study international relations.

“He thought that with how confused the world was ... that he could make the world a safer and better place,” Evnin said.

Rabbi Wall said his grandson “felt he was part of a world process of liberating people under tyranny.

“He wasn’t a philosopher. He was a doer,” the rabbi said. “What he believed in, he believed in absolutely.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; US: Vermont; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: embeddedreports; inmemoriam; iraq; iraqifreedom; jew; kia; marine; marines; markevnin; shiva; tribute; usmc; war

1 posted on 04/11/2003 11:30:24 PM PDT by yonif
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Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: yonif
First Jewish casualty in Iraq War, the grandson of a rabbi, remembered as being ‘macho yet soft-hearted.’

First my condolances to the family.

Isn't it funny that a good Jewish boy from a family of Rabbis has died to give freedom to Muslims?

Bet that fact gets totally lost by the Arab world.

3 posted on 04/11/2003 11:42:01 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: yonif
My heart breaks for the family of this fine, young Marine...he sacrified much and gave his life to help offer freedom to Muslims.

May God give peace and comfort to his family. <><

4 posted on 04/11/2003 11:46:27 PM PDT by homeschool mama
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To: yonif
May we be worthy of the sacrifice this young man offered. His family must be so proud!
5 posted on 04/12/2003 12:15:38 AM PDT by Scothia (If you pray for rain, prepare to deal with some mud.)
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To: yonif
Thanks for the story -- it helps us all to put names, histories and pictures to those brave men and women that protect all our freedoms.

My condolences to him and his family -- AND to all of us Americans who lost a true patriot!

In spirit, we're all there sitting shiva for this lost but not forgotten American...

6 posted on 04/12/2003 12:22:47 AM PDT by wayne_shrugged
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To: yonif
BTTT.
7 posted on 04/12/2003 1:34:48 AM PDT by thatdewd (Billboards for the rich, spraycans for the poor, and taglines for the rest...)
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To: yonif
Mark did "make the world a safer and better place". Sympathy and prayers to his family, he will not be forgotten.
8 posted on 04/12/2003 4:11:58 AM PDT by chgomac
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To: yonif
“He thought that with how confused the world was ... that he could make the world a safer and better place,” Evnin said.

He did!!! May G-d Rest his eternal soul. Mark is a HERO. We will never forget the sacrifices of Mark and his brothers and sisters in arms.

9 posted on 04/12/2003 12:27:18 PM PDT by Vets_Husband_and_Wife ("CNN - WE report WHEN WE decide.")
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To: yonif
On eternal patrol.
God be with his family.
10 posted on 04/12/2003 12:30:16 PM PDT by Darksheare (Nox aeternus en pax.)
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To: Darksheare
Your post #10.....perfect sentiments. Thanks from a jewish mom whose son served during the previous administration.
11 posted on 04/12/2003 12:54:08 PM PDT by OldFriend (without the brave, there would be no land of the free)
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To: OldFriend
Welcome.
I served in the Army National Guard myself, and knew a few Marines.
If He was anything like the Marines I knew, he was a fine soldier and a credit to the uniform.
So, this is somewhat of a 'rival' service branch saying condolences.
12 posted on 04/12/2003 12:57:19 PM PDT by Darksheare (Nox aeternus en pax.)
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To: Darksheare
Son was US ARMY and proud to be......he served in the 317 Maintenance Co. Headquarters, Headquarters Division....he was in ordnance. Spent nearly four years in Germany, with various deployments. He got to go to the World Cup in France, ran with the bulls in Pamplona, and a few other exotic trips in between the Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania missions.
13 posted on 04/12/2003 1:04:14 PM PDT by OldFriend (without the brave, there would be no land of the free)
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To: OldFriend
Sorry about the lag in response.
Got roped into working in a play in Hewitt New Jersey.

I was in artillery, B/Battery 1/156 FA, did advanced party and RTO. (When we weren't going to move into a new position. Otherwise adavance party was out setting up and watching for 'neighbors'. RTO= Radio Telephone Operator, usually an 'angry' 39 or TA 312 field phone. Kinda a glorified secretary.. somewhat.)

My Guard unit got called out for blizzard recovery, but the top six kinda neglected to inform the rest of us that fact.
So, quite suddenly, we find ourselves being told that we failed to report as ordered.
My section chief and myself ask, "What orders?"
Making it short, a few (two) guys got a special medal for Blizzard Recovery for driving two of our Humvees to Kingston New York.

It was a mess, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
I still wonder why some of the Marines we had join up in my unit went to that particular unit.
I guess for the same reason our First Searghent went from being in the Navy to us, freedom of movement for 20 feet or more in all directions as well as not being either at sea for months on end.
14 posted on 04/14/2003 7:48:18 AM PDT by Darksheare (Nox aeternus en pax.)
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To: Darksheare
From what this past month has shown us, EVERYONE who serves in uniform seems so proud of their service. The GUARD plays an important role in the security of our country.

Am pretty sure there were lots of National Guard troops at the airports and various other places that might be of terrorist interest following 9/11........

Thanks for being one of those whose willing to be there for the rest of us.

15 posted on 04/14/2003 7:54:21 AM PDT by OldFriend (without the brave, there would be no land of the free)
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To: OldFriend
I was out of the loop by the time 9/11 happened, but that's a diff (and somewhat bitter) story dealing with mismanagement by my former Captain.

Currently I have a cousin over in Iraq 'somewhere', my aunt isn't sure where since he didn't say.
Probably not allowed to, just in case.

A friend of mine who joined up, as a medic, after I left is either in outprocessing to go over or has already left.
The info on that has been so confusing that he's been given two different SP dates. At least.
Hoping they both come back safe.
And, I'm kinda envious of them.

Thanks for thanking me for having been in uniform.
Kinda rare to hear that, actually.
But, I thank those who are still in uniform.
They're the guys who get my props.
16 posted on 04/14/2003 8:11:50 AM PDT by Darksheare (Nox aeternus en pax.)
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To: Darksheare
The LETS ROLL majority has certainly come into it's own.

It took every American of good will to make this happen. Those who stay home and pray and those who don the uniform to serve.

We have so much to be thankful for and many to thank.

17 posted on 04/14/2003 8:40:16 AM PDT by OldFriend (without the brave, there would be no land of the free)
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