Saturday, December 31, 2005

A Story to Honor Our Deceased Troops

A Story to Honor our Deceased Troops


Remembering Scott O'Leary


Holly gazed over the fence and into the cemetery. She saw all of he white crosses, one after the other, in the long rows that reached up the hill.


There was a light mist floating in under the clouds and a light sunlight fusing the sky with a pale white light. She sighed.


Holly walked up the hill and down the row where her brother lay. She met his cross with a sigh. Scott O'Leary ... born ... --- died ... --- ... She sat quietly, placing ehr daffodils on his grave as she folded her legs under her.


She thought of the Memorial in DC to the soldiers - the eternal flame. The feelings seemed to be:"Hope Springs Eternal."


Humm..In what way did hope spring eternal? Eternal for whom?


She brushed her bangs aside as her tears fell on the ground. She felt the huge pain in her chest and she hugged her knees, missing her brother...Her brother, the one who always looked after her when they were growing up. He was always there, looking after her, helping pick her up when she  fell, helping her with her problems.. and now? Who would be there for her/


She still remembered him playing football at college and that time they went to prom together...


Holly sighed. She thought about how Scott was a veteran. He was dead, dead in her arms, but still a veteran...


Was this was like World War II? she frowned and looked out in front of her...Then we  had a common enemy who, like now, would fight us to the death. An enemy, Alkeida, who wanted us to loose all of our freedoms, because they had no use for them..in that way it was like World War II. But the gripping fear that Americans felt, not knowing where Alkeide might strike again, and in Iraq, not knowing which hospital, school, house or tank might receive the blast of a grenade, that was hard..she shuddered...


Scott had not t about his fears in this letters or spoke of them in his phone calls. He was too big of a man for that. But she knew.


Why were these criminals mad at us? Why did they hate our culture so much that they were willing to kill their own kind , including women and children and innocent non military families to make their point?


Just because they didn't like Coca Cola and Taco Bell and they wanted their women to keep wearing veils, why attack us for that?She bit her lip...Why did they kill her brother?


She reflected on her town...Did they appreciate Scott's sacrifice?She nodded..Oh yes.. She remembered the yellow ribbons when Scott's brigade had to go in a difficult territory.. A  lot of the tree around the square had them.. And the parade when he came home on break LAst TIme! He was on a float with o<SPAN class=spell id=sp-28 title="Click here to replace with: the, there, thee, then, them, they, the troops,


waving his flag! They were all so proud! ..


And then when his coffin came home, so many people flooded the church and brought flowers... There were people commiserating with her parents and other families everywhere...She sighed. She put the flowers down and picked up her feet. She would go visit her parents later... 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Katrina! Yuo're reminding me too that I need to write something to honor them as well. Thanks!
natalie

Anonymous said...

A beautiful tribute....sad, but beautiful.

Be well,
Dawn

Anonymous said...

Natalie
A wonderful entry to honor our fallen heros and all the verterans.  We need to remember the ultimate sacrifice our fallen soldiers have given to our country.  The families left at home sacrificed too and our entire nation needs to send up prayer for those families and also pray for the safe return of any of our soldiers still in harm's way.
Sam