Yesterday, I wrote about airports and how much seeing U.S. troops walking through them fascinates me. Well, I wish I could have been at Newark Liberty International Airport today to witness the return of Lance Cpl. Owen Curry from Afghanistan. The Star-Ledger has a nice write-up about the Marine's homecoming, and the difficulties his family had during his deployment. This excerpt, which shows the 19-year-old and his mother planning for the worst, is particularly striking:It started in May, a week before Owen Curry’s deployment.
"It was in the afternoon and we sat there in the living room," said Filan-Curry.
"You know what we need to do," she said to her son.
They tried to avoid the word "death," she said. "Maybe it was just too real to say it."
"If you die over there, what kind of funeral services do you want," she asked him. " Do you want to be cremated or buried?"
She said she wanted his body to be buried near West Orange, where she lives, so she could visit him easily.
Owen Curry said he wanted a military funeral.
"What do you want to do with money," she asked, referring to any money he might leave behind.
He asked her who he should give a letter to, the one he had already written to her with his last words.
They even talked about the chance of him being wounded.
He told her that he would prefer have a leg amputated by an injury because there are good prosthetics, rather than an arm, which would make it too difficult to return the way he was before.
Could you imagine having that conversation with your mother?
The Star-Ledger, New Jersey's largest newspaper, deserves a lot of credit for doing this story. I hope national media outlets follow its lead, and send more reporters to cover these incredible homecomings instead of staking out celebrities who pass through airports.
0 comments:
Post a Comment