A funeral for a Marine who never met his newborn son

[wicket]

http://imgred.com/

The family of Marine Sergeant William Callahan the Immaculate Conception Church today after his funeral in Easton. His mother, Mary Ellen (left) touches the head of Callahan’s 1-month-old son, Danny, who is being held by the Marine's sister, Marissa.

LINK

The low wail of a bagpiper playing "Danny Boy" echoed today near the casket of Sergeant William Callahan as relatives walked past with his 1-month-old boy, Danny, whom he never got to meet.

"His ultimate goal was to become a daddy," his mother, Mary Ellen Callahan, said in a eulogy, for her son, a Marine killed in Iraq last month. More than 500 mourners packed Immaculate Conception Church today for the funeral.

After the service, Mary Ellen Callahan held Danny while the bagpiper played, passing the infant to her daughter-in-law as both women cried. A Marine honor guard dressed in sharp blue uniforms stood with the dark-color coffin.

People clutching small American flags lined Main Street in this town 25 miles south of Boston. Many of the mourners on the street didn't know the family but were moved by the solemn pageantry.

An enormous American flag hung from the outstretched ladders of fire engines. Callahan's casket was also draped in a flag as it was pulled down Main Street on a white trailer by a motorcycle. It was followed by crisply marching Marines with rifles on their shoulders and Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motorcyclists who attend military funerals.

:cry: :cry: :cry: Please make this madness stop.

RIP William :cry:

[Zywiec]

1. Very sad

[StarryNite]

2. But don't tell * and laura,

because you know they suffer more than anybody else at the loss of American lives in Iraq.

[Monkeyman]

3. A Very Sad K&R

[youngdem]

4. Is it wrong I now am beginning to blame the soldiers for this as well?

I mean with all that is known about the lie that the war is, that it is an unwinnable quagmire, that it is a crime to participate, I am having a hard time not being angry at soldiers like this one who didn't refuse to deploy, and now his child has no father and his wife has no husband.

Whatever the time he would get in the brig for refusing to deploy, it could not possibly come close to death (and yes, I am aware that technically in a time of war the death penalty is on the table in cases of insubordination, but let's get real, even BUSH isn't gonna execute an American soldier).

Shouldn't we expect that now it is known to anyone who wants to see it that soldiers refuse to deploy? If not, why?
Isn't it bullshit to say that they are just following orders?
Isn't it a soldier's and a person's responsibility to weigh this and not just blindly destroy lives and countries without cause?
Isn't it honest to say that soldiers who deploy knowing the war is illegal are criminals?

Each day another soldier dies, it becomes harder not to be angry at them for the senseless pain they have caused their family (and the innocents they kill in the theater) and there was NEVER any chance ANYTHING good could possibly have come from their deployment?

I know it is politically impossible to challenge the soldiers in this way, but it sure is intellectually dishonest and ethically dubious not to. There would be no war without those kids going over there, after all.

To be clear to all of the flamethrowers out there, I don't blame them for the beginning of the war. And I am not blaming the loss on them. They were lied into the war and believed and followed their Commander in Chief, as they should. They fought nobly and won the war. But the winning the peace was doomed from the start in that there was never a plan to secure the peace, and there was never any chance of Middle Eastern public support for the US to succeed in such an endeavor in the region.

Try as I might not to, I am beginning to blame the soldiers too for the continuing war. They could stop it. They should.

Refuse to deploy. Save your families unfathomable grief, save yourself, save Iraqi's lives.

Flame on.

[Monkeyman]

6. They have been now over 3000 article have been posted

[youngdem]

7. Huh?

:shrug:

Can you please clarify?

[Monkeyman]

8. 3000 HAVE REFUSED TO BE DEPOLYED

[noamnety]

12. 40,000 deserters since 2000, if you include all branches and the IRR

that's according to the pentagon. Original story isn't online anymore, but I remember reading it, and the quote is here:

http://www.seeingtheforest.com/archives/2006/08/pentagon_says_4.htm

[wicket]

9. I don't blame the warriors, I blame the Chickenhawk Commander In Chief

[LiberalinNC]

5. I ask myself everyday, how the hell does * sleep at night...

and then I remind myself that he's a selfish, self-centered, ass hole that doesn't care about anyone else but himself and his bank account.

My heart goes out to the Callahan family. :cry:

[wicket]

10. kick

:kick:

[wicket]

11. kick

:kick:

[blondeatlast]

13. For your father, Danny--

:patriot:

K&R

[wicket]

14. Amen

:patriot: