This is Jacob. He is coming home in the morning. There won't be happy hugs and kisses or parties with family and friends. Instead around 9 in the morning people in my little town will be lining the streets as Jacob is brought home to his final resting place.
He died on Monday in Iraq as a result of injuries suffered when he was riding in a
HUMVEE on Sunday near Baghdad and it
struck an improvised explosive device. He was 20 years old.
"I want to make you proud", is what Jacob told his parents when he joined the Army last year, and even though he could not see them, he did get to hear their voices on the telephone just before he died. "They put the phone to his ear and we said we loved him and were proud of him," said his tearful mother. (Quoted from my local newspaper) "He loved to hunt and fish...he just liked being outside." His mother said Jacob had been out of high school a couple years and had gotten into some minor trouble with the law. "He said he needed to straighten out and believed the Army's discipline and structure would do that for him. We noticed a big difference when he finished boot camp." "He said he wanted to make a difference and make us proud." Friends remember him for his jokes and sense of humor. He was voted "most talkative" in high school.
I called my daughter a few nights ago to tell her the news. She was in the same high school class with Jacob's older sister. Our local newspaper says that tomorrow his body will be flown to a nearby airport about ten miles from here and will be met by a host of family and friends there. Then he will be transported to my town where they will be met by townspeople and fire trucks will escort him down Main Street and then on to the local funeral home here.
When I got off work tonight I noticed lots of flags lining the highway as I got closer to my town and even more flags and many on flag poles at half-staff in front of homes. It made me cry. My parents home is in town on this highway, so tomorrow morning I will go over there and stand with my parents outside when they go by. I know it will be a very emotional day. My heart goes out to his family.
9 comments:
just testing...for some reason this post isn't showing up when I type in the url for my blog but it still shows up on the blogger dashboard...hmmm?!!
Hmmm...well after I cleared my cache and cookies, now I can see my blog post. I don't understand why that helped exactly because I haven't had to do that before but oh well!
I'm not sure why clearing the cookies and cache helped, either.
That's so sad about Jacob. My heart goes out to his parents.
So very sad--I will be remembering his family and have them in my prayers.
Thank you for taking the time to recognized his sacrifice. It will mean so much to his family.
Nash, Hoop's brother, is being shipped out next year. It breaks my heart: all these ifs. I hate this war. HATE it.
me too, tink...me too.
*heavy sigh*
I hope and pray that the war will be long over before Nash has to ship out.
So very sad...
So very sad...
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