Friday, August 19, 2011

Owning the dead


John "Jet Li" Douangdara and his dog.

This is the dawn of a day during which Iowa will bury another if its young killed by a euphemism --- Operation Enduring Freedom.

I’m not sure how many will notice, but Lee did. A combat veteran of World War II now plagued painfully by old wounds, my neighbor was out at sunrise to hoist the neighborhood flag to full staff, then lower it to half.

Up north, where hundreds turned out Thursday to watch as his remains returned home, funeral services begin at 10 a.m. in the gymnasium of Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock Community School in Rockford for Jon T. Tumilson (left), 35, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL/Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist).

Tumilson was among 30 U.S. troops who died Aug. 6 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter they were aboard was shot down.

But I’ve been thinking more this week about another young man killed when that helicopter crashed, John “Jet Li” Douangdara, 26, Master-At-Arms Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist). Douangdara was a K-9 handler and his German shepherd, Bart, died with him.


Douangdara, native to South Sioux City, Neb., easily could have been an Iowa boy, too --- were in not for the Missouri River that embraces his hometown in a broad bend and divides it from Sioux City, Iowa.

The middle child of Laotian refugees, Douangdara was here (a serendipitous blessing) because of failures involved in my war, but --- the curse --- died in a prolonged and agonizing war that the lessons of Vietnam, it once seemed, might have discouraged us from getting mired in.

Have I ever mentioned the Luangnikones? A few years after coming home from Vietnam, I was among sponsors of this large family when it reached Iowa in the dead of winter after fleeing Laos for a Thai refugee camp.

This was a time when, at the urging of then-Gov. Robert D. Ray, hundreds of Iowans opened homes and hearts to hundreds refugees from Vietnam and Laos. The Luangnikones were with us for a time and then we regretfully helped them move on to Illinois where there was economic opportunity and a growing community of Lao people.

Looking at photos of Douangdara and at a Sioux City Journal image of his mother lighting the candle at a shrine in the Buddhist tradition to her son’s memory, I see Luangnikone faces reflected.

According to The Sioux City Journal, Douangdara’s parents, Sengchanh and Phouthasith Douangdara, fled their native Laos in 1979. After the birth of their first child, they were able to reach the United States. “Johnny” was born four years later, the third of their five children.

As a student at South Sioux City High School, Douangdara’s favorite activity was mock trial. He earned enough credits to graduate at the end of the fall semester during his senior year and enlisted in the U.S. Navy.

He was diverted from an interest in nuclear submarines by a passion for training dogs for military use and had trained Bart, the German shepherd that died with him, especially to work with Navy SEALs.

During 2009, Douangdara paid his mother's way and his own for a family trip to Laos to visit, among others, a grandfather, Bo Khomvouttavong, who had served as a captain in the Royal Lao Army more than 30 years earlier.
Farewells for "Johnny" will have a lower profile than those for Tumlison and some of the others --- burial at Arlington National Cemetery, a memorial service later, perhaps, in South Sioux City.

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Those who lay down all their tomorrows during times of war rarely do so for generalizations, but specifically for each other, indirectly for the rest of us if we own them. One way to do that is to rise each morning a little more thankfully, then work to live more honorably and honestly and peacefully so that their deaths, as we like to say, will not have been in vain.

It’s tempting to look away, faced by deaths in which we are implicated by action or inaction. That’s a grave mistake.

To date, according to the Pentagon, 6,212 U.S. troops and Department of Defense civilian workers have died in operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn.

In the two weeks since the crash of that CH-47 Chinook, 18 more U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan, 18 more reasons for behaving as if we deserved the sacrifice. Here are their names:

U.S. Army Spc. Joshua M. Seals, 21, of Porter, Okla., died Aug. 16 in Paktia province, Afghanistan, from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 279th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma National Guard, Tulsa, Okla.

U.S. Army Spc. Dennis G. Jensen, 21, of Vermillion, S.D., died Aug. 16 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 153rd Engineer Battalion, 196th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Sioux Falls, S.D.

U.S. Army 1st Lt. Damon T. Leehan, 30, of Edmond, Okla., died Aug. 14 in Laghman province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma National Guard, Stillwater, Okla.

U.S. Army Sgt. Matthew A. Harmon, 29, of Bagley, Minn., died Aug. 14 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, while conducting vehicle recovery operations and after encountering a secondary explosion while dismounted. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany.

U.S. Army Spc. Joseph A. VanDreumel, 32, of Grand Rapids, Mich., died Aug. 14 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, while conducting vehicle recovery operations and after encountering a secondary explosion while dismounted. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany.

U.S. Army Master Sgt. Charles L. Price III, 40, of Milam, Texas, died Aug. 12 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Joe L. Cunningham, 27, of Kingston, Okla., died Aug. 13 at Laghman province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard, Stillwater, Okla.

U.S. Army Sgt. Edward J. Frank II, 26, of Yonkers, N.Y., died Aug. 11 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

U.S. Army Sgt. Jameel T. Freeman, 26, of Baltimore, Md., died Aug. 11 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

U.S. Army Spc. Patrick L. Lay II, 21, of Fletcher, N.C., died Aug. 11 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

U.S. Army Spc. Jordan M. Morris, 23, of Stillwater, Okla., died Aug. 11 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

U.S. Army Pfc. Rueben J. Lopez, 27, of Williams, Calif., died Aug. 11 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

U.S. Navy Hospitalman Riley Gallinger-Long, 19, of Cornelius, Ore., died Aug. 11 while conducting a dismounted patrol in the Marjah district, Helmand province, Afghanistan. Gallinger-Long was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 1, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

U.S. Marine Cpl. Nicholas S. Ott, 23, of Manchester, N.J., died Aug. 10 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

U.S. Army Sgt. Alessandro L. Plutino, 28, of Pitman, N.J., died Aug. 8 in Paktia province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.

U.S. Marine Sgt. Adan Gonzales Jr., 28, of Bakersfield, Calif., died Aug. 7 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

U.S. Marine Sgt. Joshua J. Robinson, 29, of Omaha, Neb., died Aug. 7 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

U.S. Marine Sgt. Daniel J. Patron, 26, of Canton, Ohio, died Aug. 6 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

May they all rest in pece.