A journey of duty, struggle, and death (KIA Sgt Justin Garvey)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/203/metro/A_journey_of_duty_struggle_and_death+.shtml

Soon after his tour in Iraq began last winter, Sergeant Justin Garvey wrote to his mother in Townsend and told her how glad he was to be there: The people were poor, and needy, and happy to see American soldiers.

But in recent letters, Angie Walsh said, her son's morale had changed. The people were mean, he wrote, and didn't seem to welcome Americans anymore.

On Sunday, Garvey, 23, was killed when he and another member of his unit, Sergeant Jason D. Jordan, 24, of Elba, Ala., were attacked with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades in the town of Tal Afar in northern Iraq. They were among five American soldiers killed, and another six hurt, in attacks and an accident over the weekend. As of yesterday, 233 US soldiers have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq.

''He was well-trained and very gung-ho, very good-looking, very strong,'' said Justin's father, Gregg Garvey, hoarse from crying as he spoke by telephone from his home in Keystone, Fla. ''And they were ambushed. They didn't have a chance.''

--snip--

Yesterday, Gregg Garvey called the White House to request that President Bush call his son's wife and offer personal condolences.

''Any person that I know would be proud to call him their son,'' he said.