For family of sergeant killed in Iraq, clearer picture of son's fate final

[True_Blue]

For family of sergeant killed in Iraq, clearer picture of son's fate finally emerges

By RANDALL RICHARD, AP National Writer

Sgt. Donald Walters knew he would die in Iraq. All that remained to be sorted out in March of 2003 -- the day he called his father from Kuwait to order his own casket -- was when and how.

Even today, nearly 14 months after he was buried, the sorting out of Walters' death continues. For his mother and father in Oregon, his widow and three daughters, the process has been long, painful, and filled with pride as well as sorrow.

First there was a case of mistaken identity -- a mistake, for want of a properly translated pronoun, that helped catapult Pfc. Jessica Lynch to celebrity and left Walters' heroism in the shadows.

There was this blond soldier, according to Iraqi battlefield radio chatter, who would not stop fighting -- not after the soldier's convoy was ambushed in Nasiriyah, not after he was shot in the leg or stabbed twice in the stomach.
more....
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_060604_iraq_one_sons_fate_.235e5abb9.html

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. That's quite a story. He was an exceptional human being.

Here's a free link

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/8851049.htm

[NJCher]

2. what a horrible thing to have happen to a family

Bush I ruined the quality of his life; Bush II is responsible for his demise.

It is some story.

It just makes me so angry, what these people have done to the lives of ordinary American citizens. All in the name of oil.


Cher

[daleo]

3. Yes, quite an interesting story

These days, I never know what to believe or who to trust, but the story was interesting. I still have my doubts about the idea that he was shot as a prisoner - given all that has transpired, it is quite convenient to point to the Iraqis and say "they mistreated prisoners too". Still, it could be true.

It seems like he felt some karma or retribution was due to him for his part in the 1991 war. I don't know if that feeling was justified, but survivor's guilt it a well known phenomenon. War destroys lives in so many ways:

"The father's only glimpses into the abyss were the few times his son talked about being with a howitzer crew: "He just felt terrible about the possibility of the crew having killed innocent civilians - children in particular - and it weighed very, very heavily on him."

It was only recently that Norman Walters learned his son also had guarded Iraqi prisoners during the first Gulf War. He doesn't know if that had anything to do with what troubled him.

At one point, he says, his son went to a chaplain for counseling. It seemed to help some. But part of him, the outgoing, fun-loving part, died in the desert in 1991."

[Supormom]

4. That is very strange.

Several months ago I saw on a news magazine show (can't remember which one) an interview with a young soldier who claimed to be the blond soldier mentioned in this story. He was alive and well and had returned to the United States.