Posted on 12/05/2006 6:01:39 PM PST by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — As an Arizona ash grows at the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery, it eventually will provide shade for people as they sit on a concrete bench.
The tree, bench and memorial plaque were dedicated Monday to honor the memory of Army Cpl. Casey Lee Mellen, who was killed-in-action on Sept. 25, while serving in Iraq. Not far from the tree and bench is the final resting place of the 21-year-old Huachuca City soldier.
It was noted the tree can grow as high as 40 feet, and its canopy will provide shade for those who may want to visit loved ones buried in the state-operated cemetery.
For Col. Joe Carnes, the head of NETCOM’s logistics directorate, the death of a son is difficult for a father.
He noted he has a friend who lost his 13-year-old son and when talking to the man sometime after the boy’s death Carnes said he asked the father how he coped with the loss.
The answer from the man was that he prays every day, remembering the boy is in God’s hands, living in one of the heavenly mansions.
Looking at the senior Mellen, the colonel said he too should be comforted knowing his son, Case as he was known to family and friends, too is in one of God’s mansions.
Case’s father and his dad’s financ/e sat on the bench and heard Brig. Gen. Carroll Pollett credited the NETCOM’s logistics staff for their reaching out and helping the family, which was a task that had a life of its own.
Calling the tree and bench “a living memorial,” the general temporarily lost his composure as he talked about taking part in the funerals of two other Arizona soldiers who were killed in Iraq, both after Case’s death.
The sacrifices of American men and women in fighting the war on terrorism takes a heavy toll on families, Pollett said.
But he and others who have not gone through such times of personal grief involving the combat death of a soldier will never know what a family faces.
At night when the lights are turned off is when families “deal with reality,” of a loved one’s death, he said.
Because Mellen’s father wanted his daughter, and the soldier’s sister, to have the American flag that draped the coffin and Case’s medals presented at the burial ceremony, another flag and set of medals were presented to him by Pollett.
Mellen said he hopes that those who serve with soldiers and their families take every opportunity to be with them as much as they can.
“You never know what will happen to those who serve in uniform,” he said.
Senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
Honoring the fallen the correct way.
Ditto
Bump
TT
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