On Sun, 29 May 2005 00:21:49 -0700, Nick Arnett wrote > Wes' dad called tonight to say that a friend of his will be talking > about him on the Today show Sunday morning from the Nimitz. Just > checked listings... the show is on at 5 a.m. here!
Managed to program the VCR. They were aboard the Kennedy in NYC, IIRC. It was his sergeant and one of the guys he went through MOS school with, who was also with him in Iraq. Made the whole thing just that much more real... and I talked to his mom yesterday, who told me that their trip to Camp Lejeune a couple of weeks ago to meet his friends and have a memorial was really good for her. We know more about what he was doing and how he died, which is important, though I can't really explain why -- it has to do with feeling so distant from him, what he was doing, why he was doing it, etc. The more we know, the less distant we feel. Anyway, they said some of what we've heard from everybody who served with Wes -- he kept up his positive attitude all the time, did whatever needed to be done. My wife and I went for our morning walk yesterday around 10:45, which turned out to be fortuitous. When came to the Santa Clara Veterans Memorial, were we had a brick placed in Wes' memory (and had placed flowers on Sunday), the guy who led the effort to create the memorial was there and suggested we hang around because the American Legion would be doing a ceremony. About 50 people showed up, they did some readings, a woman played Taps beautifully and they did a 21-gun salute. We were much closer to the guns this time than at Wes' funeral -- loud, very loud... a bittersweet sound. At least it wasn't a 21- RPG salute. Since Wes' friends talked about it on TV, I'll share how Wes died. He was trading places with his immediate superior, Wesley Campbell "Camp" Ross, in the turret of his AAV when an RPG hit the two of them. Our Wes was hit directly, died instantly and was thrown about 20 feet. They didn't find all of his body, which is why I may have said here that I consider Fallujah to be his second gravesite. The other Wes was very badly injured and is not doing so well. He was in a medically induced coma in Germany for a while, then returned to Camp Lejeune. He's living near there and is supposed to have surgery June 8, according to (our) Wes' mom, to repair his skull, part of which he lost in the explosion. This has been a very different Memorial Day for me... We also spent a lot of time with the grandkids, including a fun trip to Marine World. Nick _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
