Rae McQueary got the news about her husband, Jeremy.
Stricken with grief, Rae doesn't remember what was said when another Marine came to her door Thursday to tell her of Jeremy's death.
"It's just unbelievable. I mean, it can't be," she said. "It's still kind of hard to believe that it's him. I have not seen a body. ... In my heart, I just want to believe that it's not real." (Source)
Please join me tonight in marking the loss of Sgt. Jeremy R. McQueary, 27, of Columbus, Ind. and of the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. and remembering his service to our nation.
Sgt. Jeremy R. McQueary, 27, of Columbus, Ind. and of the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
According to the Department of Defense, he died Feb. 18 "while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan."
"It’s just very hard, but I told him I loved him every day ... I always told him how proud I was of him."-- Jeremy McQueary's mother, Deborah Kleinschmidt (Source)
Jeremy McQueary, whose family line was full of military veterans, couldn't wait to enter the service, and took early graduation from Columbus East High School. By January 2002, he had joined the Marines, fulfilling a long-held dream, as his mother, Deborah Kleinschmidt, told the The Columbus Republic. He liked "fishing, four-wheeling and mentoring troubled high school students," says the IndyStar.com, loved his high-school sweetheart-turned-wife and their baby son, and was proud of his work.
"He just had a smile that made you feel safe and made you feel whole," his widow, Rae McQueary, told WISHTV8.com. When she spoke to WTHR.com, she remembered him this way:
"Right now, I feel the biggest part of me is gone," she said.
(snip)
"He always felt he was truly good at what he did and that was his calling in life," she said. "He felt he needed to be involved in Afghanistan."
She spoke with her husband two weeks ago and last saw him during the birth of their son. He was there for the first milestone, but she realizes it will be up to her to fill in the rest.
"Just the best dad you could ever imagine. Very family oriented person," McQueary said. "He just gives you a purpose in life and inspires everyone to be a better person. He's the most sensitive person, yet the strongest person I know."
The Examiner.com notes that McQueary was no stranger to service overseas; he served in Okinawa, Japan and completed two tours in Iraq before he left for his tour in Afghanistan, where he was a motor vehicle operator. In the course of his military service, he earned "the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, NATO International Security Assistance Force Medal, and Good Conduct Medal." His family has been told that the Purple Heart will be awarded posthumously.
McQueary had been close to IED explosions twice before, but last week's bomb ended his luck and his life. Few details are available; his stepfather, David Kleinschmidt, told the Republic that "McQueary was outside of his vehicle when he was hit by an improvised explosive device." He would have come home in two months.
On Saturday, his mother and stepfather traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del. to bring Jeremy home. Funeral arrangements are pending.
In addition to his mother and stepfather, McQueary is survived by his wife, Rae; their 5-month-old son, Hadley; and his sister, Rebecca Willison.
"Rae last saw Jeremy when he was given leave from his deployment to Afghanistan -- home for six weeks to see the birth of their son.
"'Hadley doesn't know what he lost yet, but he lost the best person he'll ever know,' she said. 'Somehow for Jeremy, I'll show him that.'" (Source)
Godspeed, Sgt. Jeremy R. McQueary.
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You can help.
This list is from noweasels and I reprint it here with thanks to her and to you. Here's what you can do:
You can send a care package. Please consider brightening the day of a soldier with a care package.
You can write letters.
You can send a cup of organic coffee.
You can find other ways to give at anysoldier.com or Fisher House. If you have frequent flyer miles you would like to donate to hospitalized veterans or their families, please see Fisher House’s Hero Miles program.
You can help the left-behind animal companions of our troops. See how here.
And don’t forget them when they get home! Read welcomebackveterans.org to learn what you can do. Visit VoteVets and IAVA.
You can also participate in Netroots for the Troops. Here's how.
About "I Got the News Today" (IGTNT)
I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to honor service members who have died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; its title is a reminder that almost every day a military family gets the terrible news about a loved one. Diaries about the fallen usually appear two days after their names are officially released, which allows time for the IGTNT team to find and tell their stories.
Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, blue jersey mom, twilight falling, joyful, roses, Chacounne, JeNoCo, SisTwo, SpamNunn, a girl in MI, JanosNation, Proud Mom and Grandma, True Blue Majority and CalNM. Timroff created the IGTNT logo.
"War all comes down to these little tiny stories about people's lives that will never be the same."
-- Eugene Richards, photographer