Army Chief Warrant Officer Cornell C. Chao, 36, died in service to his nation.

Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Cornell C. Chao

36, of Orange City, Calif.; assigned to the 4th Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died Jan 28 of wounds sustained when his helicopter crashed during combat operations in Najaf, Iraq. Also killed was Army Capt. Mark T. Resh.


Everything that he ever was, or ever was to be, taken away so that dick cheney can have just a few more dollars before he too dies.

It is getting closer and closer to home.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1559070.php



He'd become a son to so many.

A symbol of strength and what's right with the young generation.

Members of the Kirkwood Assisted Living Residence in Orange began writing to the handsome helicopter pilot during his second tour of Iraq in 2003. They hung his picture in the lobby and threw him a party when he came home. When he was called to Iraq a third time, they kept writing.

Now he's gone.

Residents learned about Chao through his mom, Jasmine Crowl, who served as activities director there until retiring last year.
Every morning she'd pray for her son in Iraq. Every meal she'd look at his photograph near the dining table. And every evening, she'd pray again for his safety.

"I'd just think, 'He's too far away.' I wished he'd come back home, very soon."
So when two Army officers knocked on her door Sunday, she knew why.
"My heart just felt like it was falling apart," she says. "I kept holding my husband most of the night."

Oh God, that photo.

and I wanted to add something.

To their families, these people were every bit as important as Molly Ivins... more so.

Molly Ivins x 3,000. So many deaths. Don't even start me on the innocent victims we've killed through malice or neglect in Iraq, Somalia, and in our own country.

So much pain, how can there be so much pain and no change...

First, there are too many dying to post all those obits. But the photo of Chao's mother breaks your heart, and puts the humanity in the cold numbers.

One mother's eternal grief, multiplied by many, many thousands. hogwash and his ape do not feel grief like normal humans.

I've felt some of that mother's pain.Watching the TV every night,wondering if the anonymous soldier who died is your son.The feeling of disbelief when my son was sent back again...and then was injured and sent back again.Bless her,and his extended family.Thank you,Phil,for giving a face to the endless blood trail these bastards have left us.

And the family's horror

gettting set for their 4th. I guess they're only sending them for 4-6 months this time. Wow what a generous break from the military. April BTW is a big planned deployment apparently. Anyone near Hood that can confirm this?

I remember when Ted Koppel ran a list of names & pictures of soldiers who died in the war in Iraq & Afghanistan. The rwers threw a fit. I think there were about 900 casualties at that time. They ought to do that again. I wonder how long it would take? I also remember when they listed the names of the 9-11 victims and these were run at halftime in the Superbowl when U2 did the halftime show. Maybe they ought to do that this year, for the soldiers who have died in this W-ar . . . .
In their memory.