Tonight I ask you to join me in tribute to two brave young men who died while serving their country in Iraq. Army Specialist Donald M. Young and Marine Corporal Reynold Armand made the ultimate sacrifice this week, leaving behind shattered and angry loved ones.
Earlier this week, Monkeybiz wrote a touching IGTNT Diary which began with the words
Look at this face.
Tonight I borrow from a dear friend and begin anew with those same words.
Look at this face. You'll see the face of 19 year old Army Specialist Donald M. Young of Helena, Montana, a young man who was killed in Iraq this week when an IED blew up near his vehicle. I'm having a hard time tonight, looking at his young face. It's a face much too young for any mother or father to have to say good-bye to. It's a face showing so much life and promise and future, none of which will now be realized.
And look at these faces, the faces of the family of 21 year old Marine Corporal Raynold Armand, who was also killed in Iraq this week. See more faces of grief here, the faces of children who will now grow up with their big brother.
So much sadness. So much loss.
The Montana News Station reports that Donald Young, who attended Helena Capital High School, won several prestigious awards including the National Defense Service Medal. Assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas, Donald Young left for Iraq last October. The son of Richard Cleary, who lives in Helena, and Cheryl Young, who resides in Joplin, Mo., Donald Young is also survived by two sisters, Angelina Boyd of Joplin and Liberty Mercado, both of Joplin.
Young is the fifth Helena soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, and the 20th in Montana.
"It's very difficult," [Gene] Prendergast [retired adjutant general of the Montana National Guard]said. "They're serving their country. They're giving up their life to defend the people of the U.S. There's always the sadness and recognition of what this young man did for this country." (Source)
An interview with the mother of Marine Corporal Raynold Armand can be read and viewed
here. In addition to their sorrow, this family is dealing with anger.
They are angry over the Iraq war. "I hate the war," said his mother Alma Armand. "I hate what it's doing." What it did was kill her son.
"I feel a lot of hatred. I'm very angry," she said.
(Source)
From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:
Reynold Armand didn't want to wait until he turned 18 to join the Marines. He persuaded his adoptive mother to sign papers allowing him to sign up a year early.
Soon after Armand graduated from the East Irondequoit district's Eastridge High School in 2004, he started a military career that took him to Virginia, California and North Carolina. In January, he was sent to Iraq.
On Tuesday night, family members were notified by military personnel that Armand, 21, had died.
Friends and relatives gathered Wednesday on the porch of the Rochester home of Armand's parents to mourn a young man they described as shy and respectful. He had spent a little more than two weeks at home during July on leave.
"I'm very proud of him," said his father, Carl Armand.
"When he was home, he gave no sign of being afraid."
<snip>
"We used to send him a lot of candy," said his mother, Alma Armand. "He would pass it out."
"He loved the kids," said Armand's aunt, Miriam Velez. She and her late husband, Victor Velez, helped raise Armand.
< snip >
Armand's family said he was stationed in Fallujah. They did not recall the name of his unit. The details of his death are still under investigation, and the U.S. Department of Defense had not released any information.
More Than Numbers
Iraq Coalition Casualties lists 3684 American military casualties, including 4 whose names have not yet been released. That's not a number; it represents 3684 real people who had family, friends, hopes and dreams. They left the comfort and safety of their homes, the companionship of their loved ones, because they believed in service to their country. Forget for a moment the politics of the day, the politics of the Iraq occupation, and think of the grandparents, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends and others whose lives are forever changed.
For More Information:
The DoD news releases are here.
See also Honor the Fallen and Spread the Word: Iraq-Nam, as well as the Iraq Veterans Memorial for a moving look at how a few of their survivors remember them.
If you want to do something more, please visit anysoldier.com, Operation Helmet, and/or Fisher House.
I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to honor, respect and remind. Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by Monkeybiz, Sandy on Signal, silvercedes, noweasels, greenies, blue jersey mom, chacounne, Wee Mama, twilight falling, moneysmith, sheddhead, labwitchy, and me, MsWings.
If you would like to help out with IGTNT -- even once a month -- please get in touch with silvercedes, Sandy on Signal, noweasels or monkeybiz.
Special thanks to greenies and moneysmith who provided research assistance for today's IGTNT diary.