krs
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posted on October 12, 2001 03:09:39 PM new
SOLON, Maine - It was 1:30 in the morning
when three Air Force officers found their way
through wooded roads to knock at the door of
Mary and Odben Andrews's bungalow. Standing
there near a woodpile, they informed the couple that
their son, Evander, was the first American soldier to
die in Operation Enduring Freedom.
The American flags are flying this fall in Solon, and
townspeople say they feel a clear patriotism that is a
world away from the ambivalence of the Vietnam
years. But as word rippled through Carrabec High
School and the two stores that make up Solon's
business district yesterday, talk here was not of the
historical record. The news, delivered to a doorstep
in the dead of night, has brought the aftermath of
Sept. 11 starkly home to this isolated town.
''Right now I don't know as they're thinking of
pride,'' said Dassie Andrews Jackson, Evander's
aunt. ''Right now they're thinking that they've lost
their only son. Their only son. They have daughters,
but their son was the love of their life.''
rumor....http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011012/us/attacks_first_casualty_11.html
can't find this anywhere.....http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/285/metro/Maine_man_is_first_US_casualty+.shtml
[ edited by krs on Oct 12, 2001 03:46 PM ]
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godzillatemple
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posted on October 12, 2001 03:27:47 PM new
No offense meant, but didn't he die in a tragic forklift accident?
[spelling]
[ edited by godzillatemple on Oct 12, 2001 03:28 PM ]
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krs
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posted on October 12, 2001 03:31:32 PM new
Yes.
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toke
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posted on October 12, 2001 03:33:28 PM new
No cries of "babykiller" yet. So far, so good.
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Meya
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posted on October 12, 2001 03:37:05 PM new
Earlier today on either MSNBC or CNN, they reported that this was a rumor, but I can't find that story anywhere now. As a matter of fact, I can't find anything about it, whether to prove it true or rumor.
Was I the only one who saw the rumor story?
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godzillatemple
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posted on October 12, 2001 03:38:58 PM new
I wasn't asking to be callous. It's just that when I first heard of the story, I assumed that he was killed by enemy fire. Although I'm saddened to know that somebody died, at the same time I'm glad to know that the enemy wasn't directly responsible. They've killed enough of our best and brightest as it is.
Barry
---
The opinions expressed above are for comparison purposes only. Your mileage may vary....
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toke
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posted on October 12, 2001 03:45:45 PM new
I don't think you're calloused Barry...just young. You might have a care...there are those of us that are sensitive to the way our returning (or dead) soldiers are portrayed. Extremely sensitive.
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Meya
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posted on October 12, 2001 03:57:06 PM new
I found this: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011012/us/attacks_first_casualty_12.html
It doesn't really clear it up much.
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krs
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posted on October 12, 2001 04:09:50 PM new
Meya, you may not have noticed, but there are now two links in the first post.
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Meya
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posted on October 12, 2001 04:22:22 PM new
I saw that, but it doesn't take me to the link about the rumor. I thought it looked like the same link after I posted mine here. Strange...
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Hjw
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posted on October 12, 2001 05:21:49 PM new
Godzillatemple
Rank offense smells to heaven.
Helen
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gravid
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posted on October 12, 2001 05:50:37 PM new
That is the nature of a military operation. You are going to have casualties just moving that many people from traffic accidents, workplace type accidents, disease, bad food or water, sunstroke, hypothermia, snakes, and every other hazard known to man.
They are all just as sad and dead and they all smell the same after 3 days whether it is a war or a police action or just an exercise. Death is equal - one to a customer.
Once I worked in a trucking terminal and they had a strike. The supervisors who did not know what they were doing went out in the warehouse to work. One got on a forklift - not even to move anything - just to get it out of the aile. He backed up when he meant to go foreward and backed out the open door into the truck well. The forklift rolled 180 degrees and landed on top of him. Stupid needless death. He was in a hurry.
[ edited by gravid on Oct 12, 2001 05:57 PM ]
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Hjw
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posted on October 12, 2001 06:09:07 PM new
gravid
Join Godzillatemple. Your response to this thread is equally inappropriate.
Helen
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hellsacre
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posted on October 12, 2001 07:15:15 PM new
Freedom isn't free. The cost can be very high. Our bill came airmail on 9/11/01. We're running a tab. Add Evander Andrews to it.
What is freedom worth? If you were enslaved, what would it be worth to you? Should it be worth any less to you simply because you are currently enjoying a life where armed guards don't come in the night and take members of your family? Or where you won't be threatened with death because you choose to trim your beard? Or where you simply have no choice in anything whatsoever because you are a woman?
Thank God for individuals like Evander Andrews. He knowingly gave his life for freedom. My heart goes out to his family. I can only hope they know how much we appreciate their sacrifice.
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gravid
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posted on October 12, 2001 07:24:18 PM new
Don't know what you want Helen. Godzillatemple and I both expressed it is very sad and the way someone dies in service does not matter. If someone has a standard that it has to be like a movie in a blaze of glory they are nuts. If someone goes half way around the world to put himself between harm and his loved ones and falls in the shower and dies that is still the ultimate sacrifice.
I wonder if you really understood what either of us were saying.
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Hjw
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posted on October 12, 2001 07:36:01 PM new
hellsacre
What a thoughtful and inspiring response!
The death of a young soldier, a son, brother and member of the community is a tragic loss.
Helen
ed.sp
[ edited by Hjw on Oct 12, 2001 07:38 PM ]
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Hjw
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posted on October 12, 2001 07:41:09 PM new
Gravid,
I'm sorry if I musunderstood your comment.
Helen
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gravid
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posted on October 12, 2001 07:49:07 PM new
No problem - I ramble probably could have said it better. I see he will be buried in Arlington -that surprised me - for some reason I had it in the back of my mind that they were pretty much full up there. Guess I was wrong.
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krs
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posted on October 12, 2001 08:36:22 PM new
They are full, and it's reserved parking only.
That's only the statement of his pastor as far as we know, and may have been said in error. It'd be a very strange thing if the victim of a forklift accident made it to Arlington. Pretty sure that only a president could get it done, and I doubt if this is the sort of poster boy he'd seek to make.
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twinsoft
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posted on October 12, 2001 08:54:09 PM new
There will be plenty of heroes, both sung and unsung. I hope we hold off on the ballads until we find a better candidate than some jobnik moron who gets himself run over with a forklift.
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Hjw
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posted on October 12, 2001 09:03:39 PM new
Twinsoft
"There will be plenty of heroes, both sung and unsung. I hope we hold off on the ballads until we find a better candidate than some jobnik moron who gets himself run over with a forklift. "
Not every soldier who dies during this war will be a hero but let's not call them "jobnik morons". What an asinine remark to make.
Helen
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gaffan
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posted on October 12, 2001 09:04:42 PM new
Well, I suspect that puts Barry and gravid's perceived insensitivity in some degree of perspective, if nothing else.
-gaffan-
[email protected]
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rawbunzel
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posted on October 12, 2001 09:23:52 PM new
I'm sorry the young man was killed in an accident but quite frankly this line from KRS'posted information disturbs me a bit.'
"Right now they're thinking that they've lost
their only son. Their only son. They have daughters,
but their son was the love of their life.''
I feel for their daughters.
[ edited by rawbunzel on Oct 12, 2001 09:26 PM ]
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Hjw
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posted on October 12, 2001 09:33:45 PM new
Rawbunzel
I wouldn't worry about the daughters.
I had a younger sister who was the love of my parents life and it only made me stronger.
Helen
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krs
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posted on October 12, 2001 09:45:40 PM new
Hi Bunz,
And it's that line that spurred me to post this.
It's one thing to jump on the patriotism bandwagon and shout for war but quite another when all is done and someone you've chreished is gone forever.
It's well and good to post or recite the lofty ideals as hellsacre has done above, but when it's all said and done, when the killing has stopped, when your loved one is gone,.. there will be, inevitably, a time when a loss will be measured against the cause for which it took place, and believe me, that cause had better be good.
I do not believe that this dog and pony show stands that test.
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Hjw
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posted on October 12, 2001 09:49:44 PM new
And neither do I. In fact, I have made that perfectly clear.
Helen
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rawbunzel
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posted on October 12, 2001 10:04:47 PM new
Helen, I do understand about a "love of their life" sibling.  I have a brother and two sisters.Guess who is the favored one?
Things never change. Here we are all pissed about the way the women are being treated in Afghanistan and here in our own country women are still not as valued as men. Maybe it just hit me wrong.
KRS, I don't know if this dog and pony show is worth it or not. I really don't. I wish I were privy to all the things the President knows so that I could decide but I'm not ~ so I waver. Some days I think we are doing the right thing and some days ~ most days ~I think not. Whatever, we are in it now and no turning back the clock so we must stand by our military people no matter what. I don't have to agree with the cause to want to stand behind the young men and women over there.I do wonder why this particular President had to get "elected", if there isn't something going on that is invisible to us.Did they know something was going to happen? Did they have to take care of unfinished business? Was something promised to someone that had to be taken care of? Wish I knew.
I do believe that covert missions are the only way to catch these guys and it will take years and years to get them all and more will pop up all the time. It will never end. Not really. Our lives are forever changed. It makes me sad but I will not give up. I guess the good thing is all the new security jobs that will open up.
UBB
[ edited by rawbunzel on Oct 12, 2001 10:06 PM ]
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krs
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posted on October 12, 2001 10:56:24 PM new
"if there isn't something going on that is invisible to us"
There is. There always is.
Consider this: the very best way to stand behind our military is to do everything possible to assure that the cause that we ask them to die for is a valid one, truly in the interest of the defense of the country, and that they are utilized in the most effective and economic manner possible. To accept the premises of our elected powers without question does our military a great disservice. Yes, they have chosen to serve their country, yes they are our tool of defense of all that we value. But we owe them the sure knowledge that when the cost is paid in their lives each and every one of them knows exactly why and knows that the sacrifice of their brothers in arms has been for great cause. Nothing less is acceptable.
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twinsoft
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posted on October 12, 2001 11:18:06 PM new
Hjw, maybe it occurred to you that my post was intentionally inflammatory. You don't have to take the bait every time, you know.
The loss of a loved one is difficult, but a forklift accident doesn't make the war on terrorism unjustified. The fact is, there is a terror network planning the murder of innocent civilians at this very moment. And if they can figure out a way to deliver larger doses of anthrax, you'd better believe that's what they will do.
The TV-based lifestyle of Americans make it easy and comforting to forget what happened at World Trade Center. But I guarantee that terrorists haven't forgotten about us.
To accuse the American people of warmongering is subversive, IMO. And excuse me, but Evander Andrews was not a hero, no matter how his hometown paper paints him. People die in traffic accidents every day.
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donny
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posted on October 12, 2001 11:41:19 PM new
If you wanted to perpetrate a news hoax, it'd be hard to do better than those articles... they're just very oddly written.
But, I reckon it's true, and it's tragic.
Still, Twinsoft's post made me laugh out loud, but I read it before I found out it was supposed to inflame me.
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