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In the 50s I played clarinet in the Westfield High School marching band. On Memorial Day there was no school, but for band members this was a full day. First we marched down the main street of Westfield (about 120 miles north of Franklin and Hales Corners) to the cemetery on the outskirts of town, where local veterans from World War I and World War II would fire their guns in salute to fallen comrades. Then we’d pile onto the school buses, uncomfortably warm in our woolen band uniforms, and head to Neshkoro and Coloma for two more parades, more patriotic march tunes, more commemorative ceremonies with speeches and gun salutes by veterans of the two great World Wars. From my teenage perspective, war belonged to the past.
Flash forward to September 2006. I was visiting my daughter and her family in Swampscott, Massachusetts, on a somber day when schools were closed and the whole town turned out for a funeral parade through town to the outlying cemetery. Everyone was mourning the loss of Swampscott’s first serviceman to be killed in the Iraq War. People stood quietly on the sidewalks watching the horse-drawn carriage bearing the soldier in his casket. As it passed, many of the town’s citizens stepped in behind the cortege and followed to the cemetery. It wasn’t officially Memorial Day, but in Swampscott, this was most certainly a day of honoring – and remembering – this young man and his family. Although Iraq is far away, on days like this the war is as close as our next-door neighbor.
Flash forward once more to March 19, 2007, the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq. All over the country quiet vigils were held to remember the lives that had been lost. There was one candlelight vigil in Hales Corners that night, another in Greendale. Part of the ceremony I attended involved reading the names of all the Wisconsin servicemen and women who had been killed in the Iraqi conflict. My voice quavered as I read aloud from the list I was given – strangers to me, yet brothers and sisters, people who loved this country and died in its service. Such is the tragedy of war.
St. Augustine once said, “The purpose of all war is peace.” I pray that he is correct. In the meantime, I think it’s fitting to name those 73 Wisconsin troops who have died since March 2003 as a result of their service in Iraq. We are fortunate that no one from Franklin or Hales Corners has died in Iraq, but one of our Franklin sons, Marine Lance Cpl. Ryan J. Nass, 21, died Sept. 3, 2005 in service in Afghanistan. Let’s remember him and honor his service on Memorial Day.
I have chosen to list those from nearby communities first:
Army Sgt. Scott Brown, 33, Brookfield, died May 18, 2007
Army Staff Sgt. Robert Basham, 22, Kenosha, died April 14, 2007.
Army Private Evan A. Bixler, 21, of Racine, died Dec. 24, 2006.
Army Capt. Rhett W. Schiller, 26, of Waterford, died Nov. 16, 2006.
Army Pfc. Eric D. Clark, 22, of Pleasant Prairie, died May 11, 2006.
Marine Lance Cpl. Richard D. Warner, 22, of Waukesha, died Dec. 13, 2004.
Army Spc. Eric Poelman, 21, of Racine, died June 5, 2005.
Marine Cpl. Bobby Warns, 23, of Waukesha, died Nov. 8, 2004.
Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel R. Wyatt, 22, of Racine, died Oct. 12, 2004.
Army Spc. Michelle Witmer, 20, of New Berlin, died April 9, 2004.
The others are listed below according to date of death, beginning with the current month:
Army Sgt. Jesse Albrecht, 31, Hager City , died May 18, 2007; Army Pfc. Nicholas E. Riehl, 21, Shiocton, died April 27, 2007; Marine Lance Cpl. Harry H. Timberman, 20, Minong, died March 17, 2007; Army Pfc. Jon B. St. John II, 25, town of Vinland, killed Jan. 27, 2007; Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew Matus, 19, of Weyerhaeuser, killed Jan. 21, 2007; Army Spc. Matthew Tyler Grimm, 21, Wisconsin Rapids, killed Jan. 15, 2007; Marine Cpl. Josh Schmitz, 22, of Loyal, died Dec. 26, 2006; Marine Capt. Kevin M. Kryst, 27, of West Bend, died Dec. 18, 2006; Marine Lance Cpl. Jesse D. Tillery, 19, of Vesper, died Dec. 2, 2006; Marine Sgt. Luke Zimmerman, 24, of Green Bay, died Oct. 27, 2006; Army Cpl. Kenneth Cross, 21, of Superior, died Aug. 27, 2006; Army Pfc. Shaun Novak, 21, of Two Rivers, died Aug. 27, 2006; Army Spc. Ryan Jopek, 20, of Merrill, died Aug. 1, 2006; Army Spc. 4 Steve Castner, 27, of Cedarburg, died July 24, 2006; Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Jaime S. Jaenke, 29, of Bay City, died June 5, 2006; Army Pfc. Grant Allen Dampier, 25, of Merrill, died May 15, 2006; Army Sgt. Nathan J. Vacho, 29, of Janesville, died May 5, 2006; Marine Lance Cpl. Eric A. Palmisano, 27, of Florence, died April 2, 2006; Marine Lance Cpl. Adam J. VanAlstine, 21, of Superior, died Feb. 25, 2006; Marine Sgt. Andy A. Stevens, 29, of Tomah, died Dec. 1, 2005; Army Pfc. Anthony Alex Gaunky, 19, of Sparta, died Nov. 18, 2005; Army Spc. Benjamin A. Smith, 21, of Hudson, died Nov. 2, 2005; Army Sgt. 1st Class Matthew R. Kading, 32, of Madison, died Nov. 1, 2005; Army Spc. Michael Wendl
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