About once every couple of days, I go to FoxNews’ List of War Dead and read the name, rank, age and cause of death for each new entry. For a few months there, I would go to the site to make sure that an old friend wasn’t on the list, especially if I hadn’t heard from him in a bit. (Welcome home! You know who you are.)
Now I go just to pay a version of tribute; to acknowledge their honor, sacrifice and passage just by reading that they were here and that they’re now elsewhere. Sometimes it’s hard to read of the death of the really young ones, like this one:
March 2:
Army Spc. Michael R. Woodliff, 22, of Port Charlotte, Fla. Died in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device struck his convoy. Assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Armor Division, Friedberg, Germany.But they’re all young, all in the prime of their lives, all with at least one reason to come back to their earthly home, even if they didn’t know or acknowledge it.
As it turns out, one of the Milbloggers is among the fallen. Robert Zangas was a Marine Reservist, but was in Iraq in a civilian capacity. As a Department of Defense civilian, Mr. Zangas’ passing is listed on the Fox page.
Goodbye, friend, and thanks for living a good life: that’s all we can ask of each other.
(Thanks to Citizen Smash and Blackfive)
