Soldier, rest! Thy warfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking;
Dream of battled fields no more.
~ Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake |
Tonight we gather to remember two U.S. soldiers who died in service to their country last week: 1st Sgt. Blue C. Rowe, of Summers, Arkansas, who was killed in Afghanistan, and Spc. Chad A. Edmundson, of Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, who was killed in Iraq. Please join noweasels and me, along with the Daily Kos community, to celebrate their lives and to honor their memory.
If you are new to the IGTNT diaries, thank you for coming to pay your respects. IGTNT stands for "I Got the News Today." The phrase is meant to symbolize that terrible knock on the door that any number of families got today, bringing with it the news that a loved one has died. IGTNT is a diary series intended to honor, respect, and remind.
Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members honored here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.
Army 1st Sgt. Blue C. Rowe, 33, of Summers, Arkansas
1st Sgt. Rowe died May 26 in Panjshir Province, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 426th Civil Affairs Battalion, Upland, Calif.
"He's a hero now," said Curley Rowe, 35, a Westville, Okla., resident and Blue Rowe's brother. "I just feel for my brother's family. I feel for his child."
Glenda Rowe, their mother, was notified of her 33-year-old son's death late Tuesday.
Among Glenda Rowe's four children, Blue is the third to have died at a young age. A 31-year old daughter and a 30-year-old daughter died in a 2002 car accident, which also claimed a 13-month-old grandson.
"God helps me cope," Glenda Rowe said. "If it wasn't for that, I couldn't do it. That's all I know to say."
(snip)
Family and friends said Rowe was 100 percent Arkansan, playing defensive end on the Siloam Springs High School football team and running on its track-and-field team.
"He was an all-around athlete who had his hand in a lot of sports," said Steve Avery, a former Siloam Springs football coach. "Blue was always looking for a direction with his life, and when I found out that he chose the military as a career, I knew it was a great fit for him. He overcame a lot to become the man he was."
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Rowe headed to Army boot camp in 1994, immediately after high school. He served as a military policeman in South Korea, Germany and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
(snip)
Westville resident Rena Dixon, a classmate who grew up seven houses down from the Rowes' home in Siloam Springs, learned of her friend's death Thursday. She said members of their high school class, who are planning a reunion next month, will discuss raising money for a scholarship in his honor.
Source ~ Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Whenever 1st Sgt. Blue Rowe visited Northwest Arkansas, he brought an empty bag to fill with Razorbacks gear, his mother Glenda Rowe said.
(snip)
She called him "a good husband, good daddy (and a) good son."
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Glenda Rowe spoke at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport after returning from Dover Air Force Base, Del., where she met her son's remains.
She said he was due in Arkansas on Monday for a visit.
She said she had seen many photos of him surrounded by Afghani children.
"I don't think my son had any enemies," Rowe said.
Jennifer Moten, a family friend, said Rowe was like a brother to her. She said his personality probably made him a good fit to work with war-zone civilians.
"I imagine that he probably touched so many lives overseas, because he was so compassionate," Moten said.
(snip)
Steve Avery, Blue Rowe's high school football coach, said Rowe was not a star athlete, but stood out for his dedication. Rowe was also a long-distance runner, Avery said.
"He's one that wasn't gifted with a whole lot of athletic ability, wasn't extremely fast — at least football-fast-wise — wasn't real big and real physical," Avery said. "Just one of those guys that gave it everything he had every time he hit the field."
(snip)
Source ~ The Morning News
1st Sgt. Blue Rowe’s mother said his dream had been to serve his country.
The last time Glenda saw her son, Blue, was last July.
"They went canoeing. We had a barbeque. We did fireworks, saw all of his old friends. He told me he was going on another tour," said Glenda Rowe.
Rowe was on his second tour in Afghanistan and was getting ready to return home for a visit.
"He was coming home next Monday for an R&R, and that's where they were going from wherever they served to wherever they go to come home," said Glenda Rowe.
(snip)
At Siloam Springs High School, those who knew him best remember him as a team player.
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He left for boot camp right after graduation, spent eight years in the service, then took time off to start a family.
"He got out, but he loved the Army. So he wanted to go back in as a reservist," said Glenda Rowe.
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"People don't realize that somebody's baby is going to die for them. That's all, that's it," said Glenda Rowe.
Source ~ KHBS/KHOG 40/29 TV
Video
1st Sgt. Rowe’s high school friends are in mourning.
Chris Livesay was a classmate of Rowe's through high school and kept up the friendship in the 15 years after they graduated together.
"Blue had been trying to figure out what he wanted to do right up until graduation," Livesay said. "I think his choice to join the Army was a lastminute decision on his part, and he wanted me to join, too, in the Buddy Program."
Livesay said he declined to enter the service at the time, but signed up after his first semester of college.
The pair last saw each other in July 2008 when Rowe returned to Siloam Springs to visit friends and family before being deployed to Afghanistan.
(snip)
Rowe . . . was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from September 2004 through July 2005. He later returned to the Ready Reserve, where he was mobilized in July 2008 for duty in Afghanistan.
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"I told him that working in Civil Affairs was going to be an easy job," Livesay said. "He was supposed to be 'in the rear with the gear' but Blue just wasn't that kind of person. He wanted to be where he could be the most help to those people."
Source ~ Benton County Record
1st Sgt. Rowe received many medals and commendations while in the Army, including the Meritorious Service Medal. Posthumously, he was awarded the Combat Action Badge and the Bronze Star.
1st Sgt. Rowe is survived by his wife of 11 years, Cindy, who is also in the military, by their son, Andrew, 8, (both of Whittier California), and by his parents, Winston Rowe, a former police officer still living in Siloam Springs, Arkansas and Glenda Rowe, a resident of Summers, Arkansas.
Services are pending. 1st Sgt. Rowe will be buried in a military cemetery in California.
Thank you, 1st Sgt. Rowe. Godspeed. Your mission is done.
(The tribute to 1st Sgt. Blue C. Rowe was written by noweasels.)
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Spc. Chad A. Edmundson, 20, of Williamsburg, Pennsylvania
Spc. Chad A. Edmundson, 20, of Williamsburg, Pa., died May 27 in Baghdad of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit while on a dismounted patrol. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 112th Infantry, 56th Stryker Brigade, Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
Chad Edmundson joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in January 2007, before he’d finished high school. "He was the kindest person I think I’ve ever seen as a student," one of his teachers at Williamsburg Community High School, Elisabeth McMullin, said. High school principal Maureen Letcher remembered, "He was one of those people who when I passed him in the halls, he always stopped, always said hello, and he always asked me how I was - he did that for everybody." She described Edmundson as "a very, very nice young man" who "always had a smile on his face" and "would pretty much do anything for anyone."
A talented individual with many interests, Edmundson enjoyed skateboarding, bowling, golfing, fishing, camping, wrestling, spending time with friends and family, and listening to the music of his favorite band, Strung Out. He excelled at chess and was captain of his high school team. He was also said to be a remarkable sketch artist.
Edmundson graduated from high school in 2008 and was deployed to Iraq in January 2009 with the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Many of his family and friends mentioned that he had his heart set on military service and that throughout his high school years he had talked about joining the army. "The ones that knew Chad really kind of respect the way he lived and respected what he was doing," McMullin said. A cousin remembered summed him up as "an outgoing, great, really good kid," adding that "he just liked to make everybody happy."
Edmundson was wounded when a bomb detonated on Wednesday morning while his squad was on foot patrol in Abu Ghraib; he died later at a combat hospital in Baghdad. Three other soldiers were wounded in the explosion, but not seriously; they are expected to return to duty. Sixteen Iraqi civilians were also wounded, three seriously.
Maj. Gen. Jessica L. Wright, commander, Pennsylvania National Guard, said, "Spc. Edmundson was a dynamic, young soldier who had enormous potential in the military or any other career field he would have chosen. This is a tremendous loss and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends." Edmundson will be posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Combat Infantry Badge.
Within hours of learning of Edmundson’s death, citizens of the small community of Williamsburg were dropping off flowers at makeshift memorial in his honor, and tomorrow will be "camo day" at the high school in his memory.
Edmundson is survived by his parents, his sister, and his fiancée, and the Altoon Mirror also mentioned a brother and a stepsister. The family consented to media coverage of his return and has invited the Patriot Guard Riders to attend the services.
Video clips of local news reports are here and here.
May he rest in peace.
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If you want to do something to assist our military and their families, please visit anysoldier.com or Fisher House. If you have frequent flyer miles you would like to donate to hospitalized veterans or their families, see Fisher House's Hero Miles program. If you would like to assist the animal companions of our deployed military, information is available here. Sending a care package to a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan is; read how at anysoldier.com. Other ways to support the troops are in this diary. And don't forget them when they get home. Visit welcomebackveterans.org and Hire Heroes USA to learn what you can do.
As of this writing, 4,302 members of the U.S. armed services have been confirmed killed in action in Iraq, 4 are pending confirmation, and one is missing or captured; in Afghanistan, 690 U.S. forces have died. (The Department of Defense news releases cited in IGTNT diaries can be found here.) In addition, 318 other coalition forces from Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom have died in Iraq, and 472 other coalition forces from Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom have died in Afghanistan. More than 31,000 U.S. servicemen and women have been wounded in Iraq, and the suicide rate among servicemen and women is very high. The death toll among Iraqis is unknown but exceeds 100,000 and probably is several hundreds of thousands. At least 157 journalists have been killed in Iraq during the war.
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. The series, which was begun by i dunno, is currently maintained by Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, noweasels, greenies, blue jersey mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, joyful, roses, SisTwo, SpamNunn, a girl in MI, JeNoCo, mediaprof. If you would like to participate in writing these tributes, please contact Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, or noweasels. The IGTNT logo was designed by our friend Timroff.
Many thanks from me to my fellow IGTNT team members for the standing text I have borrowed to include in this diary, as well as for the many other forms of help they always so willingly and graciously provide.
Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and families of the service members chronicled here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.