"Last week, while traveling to Chicago on business, I noticed a Marine sergeant traveling with a folded flag, but did not put two and two together. After we boarded our flight, I turned to the sergeant, who'd been invited to sit in First Class (across from me), and inquired if he was heading home.
"No sir", he responded.
"Heading out?" I asked.
"No, I'm escorting a soldier home. He was killed in Iraq, and I'm taking him home to his family."
The realization of what he had been asked to do hit me like a punch to the gut, but he told me it was an honor for him. He said that, although he didn't know the soldier, he had delivered the news of his passing to his family, and felt as if he knew them after many conversations in the past few days. I then extended my hand and said, "Thank you. Thank you for doing what you do so my family and I can do what we do."
Upon landing in Chicago the pilot stopped short of the gate and made the following announcement over the intercom:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to note that we have had the honor of having Sergeant Steeley of the United States Marine Corps join us on this flight. He is escorting a fallen comrade back home to his family. I ask that you please remain in your seats when we open the forward door to allow Sergeant Steeley to deplane and receive his fellow soldier. We will then turn off the seat belt sign."
Without a sound, all went as requested. I noticed the sergeant saluting the casket as it was brought off the plane, and his action made me realize how proud I am to be an American.
When 2nd Lt. James Cathey's body arrived at the Reno Airport, Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac. (During the arrival of another Marine's casket last year at Denver International Airport, Major Steve Beck described the powerful scene: "See the people in the windows? They sat right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what's going through their minds, knowing that they're on the plane that brought him home," he said. "They will remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They're going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should." )
The night before the burial of her husband's body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of Jim, and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. "I think it would be nice if you kept doing it," she said. "I think that's what he would have wanted.
"No arsenal, no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women."
The Final Salute Rocky Mountain News
Photo: Todd Heisler, Rocky Mountain News.
Todd Heisler is a photographer who was embedded three times with U.S. troops in Iraq - He has been following fallen heros in their journey back home.
Photojournalsim, Best In Show
2nd Lt. James Cathey
Katherine Cathey
Rich Tenalio, photo galery
Philadelphia Veterans
4 comments:
thanks for honoring these fellows and their families we need to do it more often
Tearjerker and spine-stiffener at the same time. People need to know about this. It's a good fit with all the buzz about "United 93". eb's right, we need to honor these fellows more often. During wartime, once a year ain't enough.
Where do we find such men and women?
I first saw this post and these pictures back when they were posted in 2006 and they gave me an knot in my throat and a sense of duty and pride back then. Even now in 2013, I am still coming back to this post because it has changed my life forever. Thank goodness for the men and women who keep us safe. Bless them.
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