Families: Burying Their Loved Ones.

What does it feel like when your loved one returns home but you can no longer be with them? All you have of them are pictures, their belongings, and the folded flag given to you during the service. What does it feel like to tell your children that they will never see their parent again? These things we may or may not know, but what we do know is that these are the hardest times for these families. These are the times to mourn and comfort those who need it. To bury any loved one is hard, but to bury a loved one who has been away for quite sometime that you hardly ever see is even harder.


Not only do the families mourn the loss of their loved one, the soldiers mourn the loss of a wonderful friend. Soldiers hold small memorial services for the lost friend, but nothing compared to what is held back at home. The momorial services are well planned out, with military service there to honor and salute their lost friend, as well as shoot of their guns in their remembrance. After this the flag is folded my the military men and handed to the husband or wife, mother or father, or in some cases, the children. Then the casket is lifted onto a horse and carriage to be taken to the memorial grounds for the soldiers. This memorial site not only represents what tragic things happened to these men and women, but it also represents the wonderful honor and heroism that they will always be known for.
There are many ways that these soldiers can be remembered. Many are remembered through pictures and stories from their families. Others are remembered through television and the internet. There is a website I recently found called In Remembrance. On the home page of this website it tells you that 4,898 service members are honored on there. It gives you profiles of soldiers, which the families update, telling a little about them such as their age, date of death, branch of military, unit, and much more. Please check out this website and honor the ones who have fallen. http://www.legacy.com/soldier/home.aspx


How would you feel if you had to bury your loved one and receive the flag?

Soldiers: Coming Home.

Everyday while our loved ones are over in Iraq fighting for our freedom we are here wishing and praying that they will come home soon. We wait for the day that we get the call saying "I am coming home." We await this day anxiously and plan a huge coming home party for the one returning. With family and friends we gather and wait in airports or in our homes, waiting for our loved one to walk through the door. Not once in someone's life can they feel so built up and excited about something other than this. Their heart is pounding, tears falling, a nervous look on their face, and yet, all at the same time you can see the joy and happiness that they feel.

To these soldiers and their families, returning home is everything to them. To be able to see their children, parents, loved ones, and friends is the best thing that they can have. Coming home means being able to relax, not worry about the hardships you will face during the day, and being able to have fun with life. Not only do their friends and families love them, so do the people they never knew, or possibly never will know. Many of the soldiers do not realize that when they come home the whole world thanks them and praises them for the wonderful things they have done. Though we do not know these people personally they are in our hearts forever.

This video shows the wonderful soldiers who come home to their families. Please watch, it is very touching to know that no matter what they are always there.


How would you react when the one you loved came home?

Soldiers: Ecstatic or Devastated?

To some, war means getting away and being able to see what it feels like at the front line. To others, war means leaving behind everything you have ever known and everyone you have ever loved. Everyday we hear of the soldiers who left and came home, but not often do we hear of the ones who are happy or sad to be gone. What does it really feel like to be out there in the blazing heat fighting for your life just to defend your country?


There was an interview that had been done in 2005 by Mary Spicuzza . She talked to Lisset Greene, a woman who had lost her husband when he came back from Iraq due to being devestated from the things he had seen in the war. She was asked about how her husband, Curtis Greene, was when he got back from Iraq, and she simply said he was not himself. Though she knows exactly what happened in his death, it is hard for her to understand why. She said he was frustrated with the war and that he would tell her that she just didn't understand when he tried to explain it to her. One night he went missing, he called home and told his wife that he would come back home, but would never go back to Iraq. "Over my dead body are they going to make me go back." Curtis stated. Days after this, Curtis was found dead, he had killed himself. He left behind his wife, and two beautiful children to wonder why this had ever happened. This shows the effect that war can have on the soldiers and their families. Though we mourn these soldiers we know that they are in a better place and they will always be in our hearts.


Other soldiers have said that they love defending their country, but would also love to be at home. When they do return home it is the happiest day for them, their family, and their friends. Many of these soldiers reply to media saying it was a good experience, but they would rather stay in their own country, and in their own home. If these soldiers are happy with fighting for their country that is a wonderful thing. But if they are devastated what things can we do to help? Though we do not know the true stories behind the sadness of the soldiers, we can help to relieve them of their problems by bringing them home.


Do you feel that what happens in the war is to blame for the deaths or depression among soldiers?


To read the full interview with Lisset Greene go to:
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/02/13/Hernando/_Over_my_dead_body_.shtml