I was able to experience something a few days ago that renewed my faith in my country and especially my home county. We discuss the merits of the war in Iraq, or lack thereof depending upon your viewpoint, a lot on this forum, so I thought perhaps this would fit in here.
We had a soldier, Marine Cpl. Rusty Washam, who along with another Marine was killed on Valentine's Day when the Humvee he was driving was struck by a suicide car bomber. This was our home county's first soldier to die in combat since the Vietnam War.
Cpl. Washam had just turned 21 three days earlier. He left behind two young sons, ages four and two, and a wife.
Cpl. Washam's family is a great story. A military family through-and-through, the Washam family has long served our nation with dignity and pride. Cpl. Washam's uncle, for whom he was named, was a Marine PFC who was killed in Vietnam, when he was also 21. Cpl. Washam's father was a career Army man, retiring after 24 years in service. Cpl. Washam is the youngest of three brothers, and all of them serve in the military. His 25-year-old brother is a corporal in the Army, who was injured in Iraq last July when he was shot in the foot. His 29-year-old brother (with who I played football in high school) is a staff sergeant in the Air Force.
Cpl. Washam loved what he did. He loved children, and felt like that what he and the rest of America's servicemen and women were doing in Iraq was worthy. He was often pictured with Iraqi children as he and other soldiers carried out humanitarian missions in the Iraqi communities. This was his second tour of duty in the war on terror; he had served in Afghanistan in 2004. But he hadn't complained, not once. He was scheduled to return home next month, and while he was looking forward to spending some time with friends and family, he had planned to volunteer to return to Iraq for another tour (His brother, nearly fully rehabilitated from his injury, also plans to return to Iraq).
Anyway, our county is a small, very rural community; We have 21,000 residents. Our largest municipality has around 3,000 residents. Nobody asked anyone to do anything in honor of Cpl. Washam. But what followed was a sort of impromptu tribute to the Marine. By the weekend, every flag in the county was at half-mast. Nearly every business with a marquee or an outdoor sign had a message honoring Cpl. Washam and/or his family. Hand-made signs, reading "Rusty our hero," or "Rusty our heart" or something similar were posted every 200 feet along the state highway that runs from Interstate 75 to our county seat, a distance of about 19 miles. During that same distance, there must have been hundreds of American flags, flying from homes, mailboxes, street signs, and small American flags planted all along the route.
On February 21, Cpl. Washam's body was flown from Dover to Knoxville, TN, via commercial airliner. Knoxville is 70 miles to the south. A bus load of Scott Countians made the trip to the Knoxville to support the Washam family. As the procession headed north along I-75, led by our county's sheriff, followed by the hearse, the bus, and a few riders that are part of Patriot Guard. As the procession turned along State Route 63 and rolled into our county, it was nearing 11 p.m. and rain was falling, but people were lined up along the highway for the next 19 miles, holding flashlights and candles. As the procession passed, they would join in at the rear. By the time the procession reached the funeral home, the procession was more than two miles long! It was quite an incredible site; unlike anything I had ever seen. Deborah McKay, Tennessee ride captain for Patriot Guard, said, "I was completely awestruck. I"™ve never, in my entire life, ever, seen anything like this. And believe me; I"™ve been to plenty of military funerals since the war in Iraq began. It is a time I will never forget in my life." But it was only just beginning.
Three days later, this past Friday, the funeral was held. The entire county shut down, seemingly. The courthouse, all county government offices, all local schools in two school districts, and several businesses decided to close for the day. The funeral was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. The procession was to leave the funeral home at 9:30 a.m., travel seven miles to the church where the funeral would be held (about a 10 minute drive), where the body would lay in state until time for the funeral to begin. When I drove through the town of Huntsville (where the funeral home is) at shortly after 8 a.m., folks were already lining up on the sides of the highways. Over the next seven miles, there must've been close to a thousand American flags flying, total, counting the full-size flags and the miniature flags that were attached to signs or trees or planted in the ground.
When I reached the community where the church is located, the parking lot of a convenience store across the street, which like the rest of the county had paused business for the day, was already packed as folks turned out to show their support for Cpl. Washam's family. At 9:30, the sheriff radio'd that the procession was leaving the funeral home. Normally a 10 minute drive, it took more than a half hour before the procession arrived, because they had to drive slow due to all the people along the highway. When the hearse rolled up to the church, deputies at a major intersection three miles away radio'd to say that the procession was still passing by them!
I have no idea how many people were at the funeral; the highway had to be shut down for more than a half-hour to allow the procession to clear the road, and then to allow time for mourners who were lined up out the door of the church, down to the highway, and into the roadway, to work their way into the church. The church was filled to capacity, with several hundred more people listening to the funeral outside on loudspeakers.
It takes a lot to get to me, but I sure had a lump in my throat that day. Every time I think humanity is on the fast track to hell, Americans show me something that just flat stuns me. This was no different.
I'm sorry for the long post, but I thought it was awfully refreshing amid all the talk about whether or not the war is justified to see a tribute like this for a soldier who truly believed in what he was doing in Iraq. I'm always grateful to my core to be an American. But I don't think I've ever been as proud of my country, my state, and my hometown as I was last Friday. And I'm glad to see that Americans are still giving our fallen soldiers the honor that they so deserve.
Semper Fi, Cpl. Washam
Heart-warming experience
