Ok DUers this is a sad one so get your kleenex.

This was emailed to me. No I was not on this flight but after viewing this I felt like I was. I am told that the photo and the story may not be related. Here's the story.


Last week, while traveling to Chicago on business, I noticed a Marine
sergeant traveling with a folded flag, but did not put two and two together.
After we'd boarded our flight, I turned to the sergeant, who'd been invited
to sit in First Class (and was seated across from me), and inquired if he
was heading home.

"No", he responded.

"Heading out", I asked.

"No. I'm escorting a soldier home."

"Going to pick him up?"

"No. He is with me right now. He was killed in Iraq. I'm taking him
home to his family."

The realization of what he had been asked to do hit me like a punch to
the gut. It was an honor for him. He told me that, although he didn't know
the soldier, he had delivered the news of his passing to the soldier's
family and felt as if he did know them after so many conversations in so few
days. I turned back to him, extended my hand, and said, "Thank you. Thank
you for doing what you do~ so my family and I can do what we do."

Upon landing in Chicago the pilot stopped short of the gate and made
the following announcement over the intercom.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to note that we have had the honor
of having Sergeant Steeley of the United States Marine Corps join us on this
flight. He is escorting a fallen comrade back home to his family. I ask that
you please remain in your seats when we open the forward door
allow Sergeant Steeley to deplane and receive his fellow soldier. We will
then turn off the seat belt sign."

Without a sound, all went as requested. I noticed the sergeant
saluting the casket as it was brought off the plane, and his action made me
realize that I am proud to be an American. So here's a public thank-you to
our military for doing what you do so we can live the way we do.

Stuart Margel, Washington , D.C.
and

Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News
When 2nd Lt. James Cathey's body arrived at the Reno
Airport, Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the
flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac.
During the arrival of another Marine's casket last year at Denver
International Airport, Major Steve Beck described the scene as one of the
most powerful in the process: "See the people in the windows? They'll sit
right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what's
going through their minds, knowing that they're on the plane that brought
him home," he said. "They're going to remember being on that plane for the
rest of their lives. They're going to remember bringing that Marine home.
And they should."

:cry: :cry:

how Democrats and/or Liberals "dance in the streets" at hearing of troop deaths. They can't accept that we tried like hell to keep our young people from being sent into harms way for lies in the first place. :grr:

You bring up a point that the left/Dems really need to address.

The right (especially right-wing, hate radio) is positioning liberals are people who loathe the military and hate our soldiers. They don't dance around the issue. They flat out say that we hate our soldiers.

Rush Limbaugh CONSTANTLY says that we want more US soldier deaths in Iraq--because we want more anti-war sentiment. He's constantly telling his audience that we want our soldiers to die.

This week, he was scoffing at the "libs" for suddenly siding with the generals who have come out against Rumsfeld. Limbaugh went on and on, "Libs hate the military! They can't stand it! But now...they're gonna listen to the generals??"

This is so sick!! Rush Limbaugh distorts, lies and perpetuates hate for liberals like Hitler did to the Jews. He's deliberately making people loathe the air we breath. I mean, come on--liberals and conservatives have differing political opinions. However, we share common ground. We all want the best for our children. We all love America. We ALL care about our soldiers and do not want them to die in Iraq!

I'm so disgusted about this and how hate radio does this. It's as if they're attempting to commandeer the military (and turn it against liberals)--for some ??? political purpose.

Thanks for bringing up this point...because I think it's quite serious and one we should not ignore.

advocates being directed by the terrorist, Osama bin Laden. Makes me angry.

I think there were over 20 and none were running as rep.

Thanks for that.

It was sad...as you said.

It's just so tragic. Every Sunday, when I see "This Weeks" 'Fallen" segment, it devastates me. You see their ages and how young they were--and it breaks your heart.

How somber and humbling to be on that flight.

Redstone

Thank you so much for sharing this.

but there is nothing else to back it up from what I can see.

The photo is unrelated to the story.

done.

No link was provided and it came off as your encounter. Then there is the unrelated photo you attached to it.

Keep in mind, some won't believe it since these types of stories are usually found to be untrue. I personally don't believe the story. Your motives are honorable in relating this to DU, but don't be surprised if you get some harsh criticism over it.

The photo is very powerful.

What I mean is, did you write it?

I ask only because it smells to me like ra-ra astroturf, and has been posted elsewhere.

Search string for "The realization of what he had been asked to do hit me like a punch to"

i know i read about it on DU, but the details escape me at the moment ...

it was not an uplifitng story, if i recall correctly.

The story has too many elements in common with other bullshit stuff that starts with "I got an e-mail from a friend."

I got ten bucks that says it never happened. No disrespect intended to the OP.

Redstone

which were good ones, yes? I don't want to be casting any aspersions on a fellow DUer here.

Redstone

Let people make up their own mind about it. You got enough rec's for the greatest page so it'll get seen.

"Bullshit"

a. A Marine sergeant commands about a dozen men. There's no way a sergeant wouldn't intimately know each an every one of hir charges.

b. There's no way an airline would compel passengers to remain on board until a coffin was unloaded.

I was on a flight to San Francisco a year ago and a passenger had a heart attack and died. The pilot asked us all to stay seated until his body could be taken off the plane.

It seems to me that a pilot would have the authority to ask the same thing in a case like this. The picture essentially proves that it does happen.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

to stop it! Keep fighting.

Peace.


and thanks.......:hug:

eom

thank you

good fighters.

Even "necessary" wars turn out to be a horrible waste of good fighters, not to mention the innocent bystanders all too often caught in the crossfire.

We need these guys, and owe them much. One of the things we owe them is to not expend them lightly. Surely,when they come home alive but mangled from hell, we owe them proper care.

Heart-wrenching. This shouldn't be.

:cry:

of soldiers coffins being sent home in cargo planes, with no honor guard waiting for them. One of the families was a military family, that spoke out about it, for the benefit of other families who didn't know the protocol. I'll see if I can find some articles....

Strange, I was just looking at the photo essay of Heisler's online today, thinking how amazing it was. Here's an article at the Rocky Mountain News about him: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4629004,00.html. Click on the "Presentation: Final Salute" link for more of his photos; they're quite powerful.

Not sure about the first e-mail portion; it does strike me as somewhat believable, though.

that is the airline i worked for most of my life...as crew...and i know most of Americans pilots are all retired AF..or ANG...

so heart wretching,..

fly:cry: :cry: :cry:

The president's insane
and the soldiers die in vain.
There. How's that for something to cry about? Did that poor soldier die protecting us? No. He died as a result of an insane president and an insane Secretary of Defense.

First, it's a breach of security for anyone to mention that there is a dead soldier on a plane. The official Bushian line is that NO American soldiers have died in the Middle East. You can't even take pictures of the casket. So that sergeant, by letting out the secret, is probably in Leavenworth now.

Second, it's more probable that when that announcement is made on a plane, a big fat businessman in a suit will say, "Screw that! I gotta get another drink!" and push his way past the flight attendants on his way to the airport bar.

other services. This is the way it should be!