Heroes' Call - 4/11/2007
 

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Subject: Amazing & heartbreaking Jay and Joe attended this funeral. This amazing picture has drawn a lot of comments from readers of the Nashville paper, The Tennessean.
See Jay's letter below.

Dear Tennessean:

The Tennessean’s April 5 photograph of young Christian Golczynski accepting the American flag from Marine Lt. Col. Ric Thompson is one of the most moving and emotion provoking images I have ever seen.

I attended funeral services for Christian's father, Staff Sergeant Marcus Golczynski, on April 4, along with my six year-old son, dozens of Marines, and several hundred others who came to pay tribute to this fallen hero.

As one would expect, many of your readers were touched by this incredible picture. On April 9 you published two letters from those who have used this image as a basis to criticicize President Bush and the war in Iraq. These writers should know that Staff Sergeant Golczynski had previously served one full tour in Iraq. He wrote to his family, shortly before his death on March 27, that he had volunteered to do this a second time due to our deep desire to finish the job we started.
We fight and sometimes die so our families don't have to.

Tragically, Staff Sergeant Golczynski had only two weeks remaining on his second tour. I look at the photograph of Christian every day. It is displayed prominently in our home. Our hearts ache for Christian and for all those who have lost loved ones in this controversial conflict. Our nation is at a historical crossroads. Do we call an end to the struggle in Iraq or press on? Staff Sergeant Golczynski eloquently told his son how he felt about giving up. Perhaps there is a lesson for all of us in this man's life and the choices he made. He was undeniably a man of tremendous courage and conviction. America must now choose whether to complete the job. When I look at the face of Christian Golczynski, I am reminded that doing what is right is not always easy and doing what is easy is not always right. Christian's dad knew that too.

James Drescher Franklin, TN

Would like to say that I hope that this does not ever happen again, but we all know that this just is not possible. Even without a war or terrorist action to fight we are going to have casualities in the military.

I sincerely hope that everyone on the forum and around the country reads this and realizes that what is being broadcast on the news and thrown at us by many of the politicians is not what much of the military and many of us in the public feel.

What is said above is what I keep hearing from the majority of the military I am in touch with. Like it or not, thats what they feel about the war we are currently engaged in over in Iraq. This is not a political statement, its they way they feel BTW. Considering that they are the ones "in harms way" we owe them the consideration of listening to them.

Problem is, you're not reading these heartfelt devotionals in Iraqi papers.

These men are dying for no sufficient reason.

As is in most wars, and it's always those that are far away from the actually dying business,
that produce the most rhetoric about it beeing necessary to sacrifice life, health and sanity...

Deep down i knew that one day i would agree with a post from svandamme!


That picture is surely powerful stuff. Nearly brought a tear to my eye. But not in a flag waving, kill the bastards kinda way that is so prevalent here. The emotion i feel when looking at the poor little boy is 'W better be putting a LOT of consideration into his personal war on the middle east and i hope for the sake of his soul it has nothing to do with oil or money.'

It is a tragedy for every single family that has lost a loved one in this war, both for the men/women serving from the US and also for the Iraqi people. I can't imagine the loss and suffering they must have to go through. Nothing good ever comes from war. It divides people and creates a lot of hatred.
Next time we go to war, we better make damn sure it is worth it, that the objectives are clearly defined, and the sacrifices made justify the ends.

very powerful photograph, though.

powerful photo indeed

Worth it? Seems to me you would not know until you were neck deep in it.

No one is criticising our troops or questioning their conviction, no one. Its the one thing we Americans know we can count on.

The leadership is a different story. Lets not confuse the two.

I doubt that. There are plenty of troops, probably most though I have no numbers, who believe in their mission in Iraq. If you do not think we should have gone in the first place or think we should be out of there yesterday, you are questioning their conviction.

I disagree, and I think we have different definitions of "conviction".

Our guys are dutifully doing their job to the best of their ability, no one doubts that. But regardless of what they want to do, the leadership decides what they *will* do. Our armed forces collectively did not choose to invade Iraq, our Boy King commanded them to and, from what I've read, with almost complete disregard to the wishes of the military.

By your definition of conviction we wouldn't need to extend tours of duty, our troops (most as you say) would be signing up to stay indefinitely.

Honorable? Absolutely. Worthwhile for the American people, the budget, and the long term goals of the USA? Im not so sure.

I agree with Mat on this.

Questioning the 'war' is not questioning a soldier's conviction.

'Support Our Troops' doesn't mean "buy a bumper sticker from a private, for profit, entity and enrich some random profiteer". It also doesn't mean "agree with whatever W says". I am fairly certain it has nothing to do with forwarding silly flag-waving emails that manage to put the answers to every major question in life in one paragraph. It means "Give careful and critical thought to what this 'war' is about and vote accordingly"

Clap for these guys when you see them; pat them on the back, buy them dinner. But most of all, form your own understanding of what is going on over there and be involved in the process!

+1
 

+1 here! A relative of mine (Holly Geough) was killed in Iraq a few years ago and I served in Desert Storm and I contend that you can disagree with the president and the administration and STILL support the troops by recognizing their bravery and telling them you care (and doing something about it!).