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| Bringing a fallen Marine home to rest |
| 2004-04-27 |
| This is Marine Lieutenant Colonel Strobl’s account of escorting the remains of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps home to be buried, as posted by milblogger Blackfive. EFL. Read the whole thing. You will be moved. Most of the remains are taken from Dover AFB by hearse to the airport in Philadelphia for air transport to their final destination. When the remains of a service member are loaded onto a hearse and ready to leave the Dover mortuary, there is an announcement made over the building’s intercom system. With the announcement, all service members working at the mortuary, regardless of service branch, stop work and form up along the driveway to render a slow ceremonial salute as the hearse departs. Escorts also participated in each formation until it was their time to leave. On this day there were some civilian workers doing construction on the mortuary grounds. As each hearse passed, they would stoop working and place their hard hats over their hearts. This was my first sign that my mission with PFC Phelps was larger than the Marine Corps and that his family and friends were not grieving alone. . . . "Tell Britain, ye who mark this monument, |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #8 On 4/10 I attended the graveside service of one of the contractors lynched in Fallujah March 31st. The family had gone on record as requesting the public participate in all events. The local TV stations reported "thousands" attended visiting hours at the funeral home, hundreds attended the church's funeral service, and several hundred drove the 50 miles from Cleveland to the National Cemetery where the man was buried. It took a half hour for the funeral procession to enter the cemetery and park for the service. Services covered by the area's broadcast and print media. (In 2003 similar coverage had been given to the funerals of 2 KIA's from Jessica Lynch's unit, those who were from the Cleveland area.) Yesterday one of the Cleveland TV anchors made a slip of the tongue and referred to the fighters opposing the Marines in Fallujah as "terrorists." Attitudes are firming up out here in the hinterlands. |
| Posted by: Tresho 2004-04-27 9:06:11 PM |
| #7 Chicago Tribune usually runs a column 1 - 2 times a week with extended obits of our guys who've fallen in Iraq or Afghanistan. Each obit runs about 4 to 6 paragraphs, and they're always in the first (front) section of the paper. I read every one. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-04-27 7:20:55 PM |
| #6 I served with Mike when we were LT's back in the late 80's and early 90's. Like PFC Phelps, LTCOL Strobl is an artilleryman. Marines (and Soldiers) will always take care or our own. I actually received this email last week. Semper Fidelis PFC Phelps. |
| Posted by: Alofty1 2004-04-27 7:02:46 PM |
| #5 Yep. |
| Posted by: Lou Diamond 2004-04-27 6:07:13 PM |
| #4 God gives free pass to Marines. It's part of the bargain. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-04-27 5:57:33 PM |
| #3 I heard that 3,000 people attended his funeral. The town is only 800 people. Won't be reading that in the NYT or WAPO - now will we? |
| Posted by: B 2004-04-27 5:38:20 PM |
| #2 Thx, Mike - ex-lib is right... |
| Posted by: .com 2004-04-27 5:32:59 PM |
| #1 Everyone oughta read this in its entirety. |
| Posted by: ex-lib 2004-04-27 5:15:22 PM |