I'm going to have to do these a couple times a day just to catch up to the rate of tragedies continuing to come out of Iraq. Sincerely, I do this out of respect for the dead and wounded. Bush makes
himself look bad by ignoring those that come home from Iraq in transfer tubes, wheelchairs and straightjackets.
HOMETOWN MOURNS CAREER MILITARY MAN
Command Sgt. Maj. Jerry Wilson of Thomson was killed Sunday in Iraq.
150 honor soldier killed in Iraq
By MARY MacDONALD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THOMSON -- Within five days of their high school graduation, Jerry Wilson and two close friends had left their hometown west of Augusta for the adventure and opportunity promised by the U.S. Army.
Waldo Massey and Randy Hill eventually settled back in Thomson. But Wilson made a 27-year career of that decision, a choice that on Sunday placed him in harm's way a long distance from home.
On Thanksgiving morning, nearly 150 people in his McDuffie County hometown gathered in a prayer service to remember Wilson, who was killed Sunday in Iraq after he and another soldier were attacked by gunmen while traveling in a sport utility vehicle through a rundown neighborhood of Mosul.
[snip]
Burton Patrick, a three-star retired Army general, also grew up in Thomson, and came to know Wilson as a friend. His death is particularly painful, Patrick said, because he knew how much Wilson meant to his family.
"He and I hit it off right off the bat," said Patrick, 68. "He went in the Army because he wanted a challenge. He knew if he met that challenge, there would be promotional opportunities."
It was a choice made by many young men in the mid-1970s, Patrick said, but few had the commitment or leadership qualities to advance. Wilson's ambition was to become command sergeant-major of the 101st Airborne Division, Patrick said, and he was "headed in that direction before his death."
Before he left for Iraq in February, Wilson had told the retired general that he fully supported the U.S. mission in Iraq.
"The soldiers that went over there from all divisions, the Marines that went over there, the sailors that went over there, they did it for a just and noble cause," Patrick said. "They could not stand the sight of the World Trade Center being knocked down, and 3,000 of our people lost. He looked at it exactly that way. Stay there and get the job done."
I'll keep this up as long as I can. When you post below, I know you will be respectful to the victims and their families.
If anyone wants to help me by forwarding stories, hit me at
don [at] hashmark [dot] org
Put KEEPITREAL in the subject line.