Pfc. Corey L. Small Suicide, July 2, 2003
Report leaves mother upset
York Daily Record
USA Today reported that an area man killed himself in Iraq.
By MICHELE CANTY and CARYL CLARKE
Daily Record staff
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
The whispering about her son's death in Iraq has followed Jodie Orner since July.
Orner knows people in East Berlin, the small borough in Adams County where she lives, believe her son, Pfc. Corey Small, committed suicide.
However, she doesn't want rumors to define what happened to her son on July 2 when he died from a non-combat related gunshot wound. She's waiting for a report from a military investigation into his death, which is not complete.
"I don't believe it right now," she said Monday. "They're going to have to prove it to me."
On Monday, an investigator from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command said their probe into Small's death was not complete, and no conclusion on Small's death had been made.
But that's not what Orner and her family read in Monday's edition of USA Today. A family friend called to tell them they needed to pick up a copy of the national paper immediately.
It had a story about Small, and reported that military sources had confirmed Small's death as a suicide.
"How could they report this?" she asked. "They haven't even told us what happened. The military told us it would take three to six months for them to complete the investigation," Orner said.
She added, "I can understand it being released after the investigation was complete, but not before."
Whether her neighbors had read the paper Monday, many were talking about Small's death.
At the East Berlin Pharmacy, Cindy Hoff and Nadine Kroft leaned on the front counter and shook their heads when they heard Small reportedly killed himself in Iraq.
Hoff wondered what could have led a young man to apparently commit suicide while fighting a war he believed in.
She was shocked that 11 American soldiers and three Marines had killed themselves in Iraq in the past seven months, according to the USA Today report.
"I am concerned that all these children, and I mean children, are doing this," Hoff said. "To put them in a situation where they are going to do this is scary."
Hoff's daughter, Amber Hoff, said she knew Small as a friend from middle school days in Bermudian Springs School District.
"It's scary. Think of the thoughts running through his head," Hoff said. "Who could he talk to?"
She imagined the horror of seeing fellow soldiers dying. Small was just too young to be sent to war, she said.
"Think about all the other kids over there," Hoff continued. "If this happened to somebody I know, it can happen to the others. I never thought it could happen to someone I know. I don't understand."
After Small's death, members from the Lake Meade American Legion approached his family about naming the post after him.
On Monday, Legion vice commander Robert Shifflet, said his post has postponed naming itself after Small.
"We were thinking about doing that," Shifflet said. The possibility of it being a suicide was the main reason the post delayed action on the name.
Orner said the post's change of heart is disappointing. "You would think they'd rise above that," she said. "What are they afraid of? Are they worried they'd have to explain to their children that the man the post was named after possibly took his own life?"
"No one came to me face to face to say they changed their minds. I had to read it in the paper," she added.
Yes, Orner said, she's heard and read that her son killed himself. However, no matter how he died, she still wants his memory to be honored.
"People have to understand what we're going through," Orner said. "The chain of events that have happened are robbing us of my son's memory."
------------------------
LETTER TO GRANDMA
The following is a letter from Corey Small to his grandmother, Susan Leisenring of West York, approximately two weeks before his death. Corey Small's mother e-mailed the letter to the York Daily Record.
15 JUN 03
Grandma Dear,
Thanks for sending me the card with the $10 in it. I used the money to buy a whole fried chicken with bread and 5 Pepsis. I could have got it for cheaper, but I didn't have any dollar bills. I am drinking plenty of water, about 6 quarts a day. The food sucks. I usually only eat once a day, with some snacks here and there. We eat a hot meal about five times a week. Other than that, we eat MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) I am sure you already know that. You can send anything you think I will like except for chocolate, it will melt by the time it gets here. I mostly only need any kind of drink mix (Gatorade, Powerade, Kool-Aid) and cigarettes, but mom can send me those.
If you want, you can get Mandy to get some drawing pencils and paper, she knows what kind. I could also use some KODAK Advantix film, or the generic alternative. You don't have to send all of it, I'm just giving you ideas.
The past couple of days, the temp has been past 120 degrees. I sweat constantly, even when I am sitting still. We are slowly improving the compound where we are staying. We just got electricity a few days ago. They are working on buying A/C. That will be nice for August. Sorry if my handwriting is bad. My hand keeps sticking to the paper. They say we will leaving sometime around September, give or take a month. What's funny is that we weren't really suppose to come here at all. The colonel in charge of the Regiment wanted to get promoted quicker, so he brought us here a couple of days before our orders would have gotten cancelled. Let's just say he isn't going to be a general anytime soon.
Well, gotta go
Love,
Corey Lee Small
Your favorite Grandson