Private memorials held for Fort Hood murder victims

The families of the soldiers murdered by Nidal Hasan in Fort Hood are holding private memorials for the victims. Among the things we learn here are:

No public memorials were planned at Fort Hood to mark the second anniversary of the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation.

Is that because the PC crowd doesn't want this to be remembered or known about? Don't be surprised if it is.

"The thing I've heard a lot of families who've lost people in Iraq and in Afghanistan (say) is that they just don't want people to forget," Kerry Cahill said. "People don't bring it up because they don't want to remind you—well, I remind myself every day. I don't want people to forget that it happened, and I don't want people to forget my father."

On that sunny autumn day two years ago, a gunman wearing an Army combat uniform stood near the front door of a Fort Hood medical building where deploying and returning soldiers received vaccines and other tests. He shouted "Allahu Akbar!"—which means "God is great!" in Arabic—and opened fire, witnesses said. Some soldiers thought it was a training exercise.

He rapidly fired, pausing only to reload, shooting at soldiers hiding under desks and those fleeing the building, according to witnesses. Capt. John Gaffaney was fatally shot after throwing a chair at the gunman. Spt. Jason Dean "J.D." Hunt, Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow and Pfc. Michael Pearson died while trying to protect several nurses at the back of the building. The others who died, most in the front area, were Capt. Russell Seager, Sgt. Amy Krueger, Spc. Frederick Greene, Pfc. Aaron Nemelka, Pfc. Kham Xiong and Pvt. Francheska Velez, who was pregnant.

Some witnesses identified the gunman as Maj. Nidal Hasan, an American-born Muslim who was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan the following month. His trial is set for March. If convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder, he faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

And we must hope he receives the former punishment, since he really deserves it.