Tomorrow, Sunday, November 11th, 2007, Veterans Day, is my son Scott’s 27th birthday. I always say his mother became a veteran that day.
The last time we instant messaged, he was sitting poolside in the Green-zone, on the tail end of a four day R&R, sipping a non-alcoholic beer and typing away on his laptop trying
not to think too hard about the heat and war and how much he missed his lovely wife and new home in Savannah. We messaged for almost two hours.
For some reason, I did not save the session. He was killed three days later on August 11th in an Al Qaeda ambush in Arab Jabour, along with four other men, three months to the day from when he left on his second tour in Iraq and three months ago to the day before his birthday. He was a Sergeant in the 3rd Infantry and so very proud of it.
In the next few days and weeks as news spread of his death, we began to receive hundreds of cards, emails, phone calls and friends all expressing sympathy for our unknowable grief. Cards came in from all over the country from people who were total strangers expressing sadness and thanks for the sacrifice Scott made in our country’s name. We had personal letters from Congressmen, ours as well as others. Letters from Senators Barbara Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin of Maryland. Sen. Mikulski called our home one morning and missing me, she spoke with my son Kevin for a few moments and said she would call back later. She did and we spoke on the phone for nearly 30 minutes that morning about what had happened and what we as a country lose every time a soldier falls. She impressed me greatly with her sincerity and warmth and afterwards I reflected about what 30 minutes of a United States Senator’s time is worth and marveled that she took that time out from her schedule to just chat with a new Gold Star parent. She told me there are 90 Gold Star families in Maryland and she gave me a special phone number in her office she has reserved for Gold Star families to call if we ever needed anything from her. We also had a wonderful handwritten note from Sen. John Warner of Virginia.
Governor Martin O’Malley and Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown both wrote nice letters to us and the Governor ordered the Maryland State Flag flown at half-staff over all State offices on the day of Scott’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, and then sent us the very flag that flew over the Statehouse that day. There were letters of condolence from other officials up and down the Army and Defense Department expressing sympathy and generous offers of help and support if we needed it.
Such honor is properly accorded the families of our fallen soldiers and it is indeed a great source of pride and comforting support to have it. Of course, we would trade it all for the pleasure of Scott’s warm smile one more time. But past that, when I think back to all the people we heard from; family, friend and strangers all over the world, there are two people Martha and I did not hear from, ever, the President and the Vice-President of the United States. The two men responsible for his being there in the first place. Now how much does that say about them?
Ed
