Wednesday Hero
This Weeks Hero Was Suggested By Beth
Her name is Holly Holeman. Her job is working at a flower shop. And her mission to make sure soldiers are never forgotten. Which is why she’s out at Arlington National Cemetery every week putting flowers around the headstones. She usually does this alone, but on a bitter cold day in February of 2007 she was met with family members of fallen soldiers buried in Section 60 of the cemetery who helped her to place the roses.To read the rest of Holly’s story, you can go here.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died,
We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.
Wednesday Hero
I just realized it’s Wednesday! Would have sworn yesterday was Monday. Thought it had been an unusually long day…
This is one of my favorite organizations, of which I’m a volunteer. Patti is an amazing woman who has inspired me, given me hope and kept my spirits up when I was ready to crash while living on the left pink coast. It was a true honor to meet her in person in May at the Milbloggers Conference in DC. I had been talking to her for 5 minutes (my husband and I were out having a cigarette and she was there with another woman) before I realized that she was THE Patti!! I burst into tears and she hugged me for a long time as I told her how hard it was to be a military parent living in a code pink town. She has a precious heart and spirit.
Thank you, Patti, for everything.
***********
This Weeks Hero Was Suggested By Greta, Who Is Herself A Solders’ Angel
May Not Solder Go UnlovedBack in 2003, self-described “ordinary mother”, Patti Patton-Bader, started an organization called Solders’ Angels because her son, Sgt. Brandon Varn, wrote her a letter from Iraq in which he showed concern that some of the brave men and women there weren’t receiving any mail or support from back home. Well, she wasn’t going to allow this. She called a few friends and family asking them if they would write to some of the soldiers. They’d never met them. Didn’t know who they were, but they wrote. And in a few short months, Solders’ Angles went from an idea an “ordinary mother” had to having chapters all over the country and thousands of angels all over the world letting soldiers know that they were loved and respected by writing hundreds of thousands of letters, sending care packages, medical supplies, body armor and lending comfort and support to military families. Solder’s Angels and the people who run and support it are heroes in the truest sense.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died,
We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.
Wednesday Heroes
Lance Cpl. Cory Jamieson
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania
Personal Security Detachment, Headquarters and Support Company, Task Force 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, attached to Regimental Combat Team 2
Hippocrates once said, “Art is long, life is short”.
Cpl. Jeremy David Allbaugh lived a short life. But, he was immortalized recently in acrylics by a Lance Cpl. Jamieson who painted a mural in his honor.
“I feel sad because it is for him, but it makes me happy because I can still do something for him,” said Lance Cpl. Jamieson. “I thought about it during the ceremony in the chapel. I looked up at the stained glass windows and I thought ‘I should do something like that'”.
Along with help from family, a fellow Marine and a Morale, Wefare and Recreation manager, Jamieson had the paint and tools needed.
“I would paint eight or nine hours in the gym and time would fly by,” Jamieson said.
Cpl. Jeremy David Allbaugh, 21 years old from Luther, Oklahoma, was killed by a roadside bomb on July 5, 2007 while conducting combat operations in Qaim, Iraq.
“He believed very strongly in what our country’s doing,” said his mother, Jenifer Allbaugh. “They were doing good things over there, and we don’t see that in the news or media. There’s a lot of progress being made. I wish more people would talk to our boys who are in it and not our politicians because they see it firsthand”.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died,
We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.
Wednesday Hero
1st Lt. Forrest P. Ewens
26 years old from Tonasket, Washington
1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry)
June 16, 2006
The love of Megan Ewens’s life arrived at Arlington National Cemetery on July 7, 2006. His ashes inside a small wooden box, the box inside a coffin, the coffin draped with an American flag and carried on a caisson pulled by six black horses.
Lt. Forrest P. Ewens had shipped out for Afghanistan in March of that same year. His wife, being the same rank in the Army, understood the risks, telling a colonel at Fort Drum, N.Y., that if anything happened to her husband, she didn’t want to hear about it from a stranger.
On June 6, 2006 Lt. Ewens and Sgt. Ian T. Sanchez were killed when ATV struck an IED while on combat operation in Pech River Valley, Afghanistan.
A few weeks before his death, Lt. Ewens called his wife from an Afghan mountain to inform her that his unit had been subsisting on melted snow and rations and that he had been writing his impressions down in a notebook he carried.
“This was the love of her life,” Megan Ewens’s mother said. “They were so well-matched and made such a good team. We couldn’t ask for a better son-in-law.”
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died,
We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.
Wednesday Hero
(I apologize for being a day late…)
Staff Sgt. Richard P. Ramey
27 years old from Canton, Ohio
703rd Ordinance Compan, supporting the 82nd Airborne Division
February 8, 2004
Richard Ramey always knew what he was going to be. Once, while in the third grade, his teacher asked him what he wanted to do when he grew up. His response? “I’ll go to war and fight” Concerned by his answer, his teacher called his mother, Julie Ramey. She told her “No, that’s my son”.
SSgt. Ramey was killed when insurgents attacked his and other convoys in Mahmudiyah, Iraq.
“Richard loved to do his job. No matter where it would take him,” said his mother. “He really felt deeply that he wanted to protect people that couldn’t protect themselves”
In a statement released through Fort Knox, the Ramey family said, “He was adventurous and smart, combining both qualities in what he did for the Army. We knew his work was dangerous but also knew he wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else”.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died,
We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.
Wednesday Hero
Sgt. Willard T. Partridge
35 years old from Ferriday, Louisiana
170th Military Police Company, 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade
August 20, 2005
Sgt. Partridge was killed by an IED that exploded near his vehicle in Baghdad, Iraq.
There isn’t that much information about Sgt. Partridge so I though I would share some of the memories that his friends and family have of him.
“I remember Partridge from basic training and AIT. He was a very quiet guy who had a good sense of humor. I remember asking him why he joined, and he told me it was so he could take care of his family and give them a better life. I would have deployed with him any day, he was one of the good guys I graduated with. He will not be forgotten. God Bless.”
“Todd was one of the best men I have ever met and I will always have great memories and admiration for him! My thoughts and prayers go out to his family!”
“I will never forget you and those awful eighteen weeks at Fort Leonard Wood. You are in every sense of the term, ‘A HERO'”
“Todd was such a quite, solid person. He never demanded the attention of those around him. I remember him always just smiling while everyone else at our LARGE FAMILY get togethers made noise. I could get a hug from him, but I had to ask for it. He never assumed anything. I loved making him hug me.
Todd was a solid, faithful husband, father and man in every respect. He did what had to be done in all areas of his life. He died doing what he knew to be his job in this life. Not that he wanted to die but he wanted to serve whatever the cost might be. He knew that freedom is not free and wanted to pay his part for that freedom for himself, his wife and girls.
I have nothing but love and respect for Todd’s memory and will always proudly and thankfully count him among my nephews that adore. His memory will always be honored. I thank God that He brought Todd into our family. He left his mark on it just as he did everywhere he went.”
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died,
We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesday Hero, you can go here.
Wednesday Hero Anniversary
I’m a day late as it was actually yesterday. It has been a year of honoring Heroes and the tears and smiles that go with getting to know that week’s Wednesday Hero. I have loved doing it!
When some ignorant Santa Cruzian “anti-war” peacenik would get in my face about our soldiers, I would think back to the Hero’s face I had posted that week and the remarkable story that went with that face. And I smile ~ and realize how little the person ranting at me really knew about it all. (Well, those were the times I kept my calm.)
Indian Chris does a wondrous job of getting the posts all set up so all we have to do is copy and paste. It’s always quite a moment to watch the HTML code turn into a person. It’s a double-edged sword as most of the Wednesday Heroes have made the ultimate sacrifice. I sit in awe with tears running down my cheeks as the words of his or her story unfold before me on my editor.
If you want to know how all this started, please head over to Indian Chris’s site for his story.
One of the Wednesday Hero bloggers, Kathi, has put together a video: (I’m having trouble embedding certain videos these days…) You can see it over at Indian Chris’s:
(tissues required, unless you’re a stone)
Thank you, Chris, for letting me be a part of this wonderful project.
And thank you, Kathi, for the beautiful video.
Wednesday Hero
This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Randy Thorsvig 
Ken Leonard (On The Right)
From High Point, North Carolina
Every once in a while you run across one of those “feel good stories”. Those stories that show us just what a person can do when they really want it bad enough. And Ken Leonard has one of those stories.
In 2005, Ken Leonard left his job as a police officer in High Point, North Carolina to go to Iraq to work with a private security firm. In December of that year, Ken, along with five other men in his vehicle and six others in the vehicle behind him, was hit by a roadside bomb outside of Baghdad. “After the bomb went off, I knew exactly what had happened,” Leonard recalled. “My feet got jarred, so I knew they were hit.” While others in his vehicle were injured, he had received the worst of it. He had lost both his feet.
The vehicle behind them pushed Leonard’s to a safer area. But flames were coming out of the air conditioning vents and they had to get out. Leonard crawled from the car and fell to the pavement. “Thats when I saw my feet,” he said. “I could tell they were gone. They were still attached, but they were shredded.”
On July 19, 2007, Ken Leonard went back to North Carolina to get his job back with the police force. To do that he needed to pass the Police Officers Physical Abilities Test, which, among other things, consisted of a 200-yard run to be finished in under 7 minutes, 20 seconds. And he did just that with 24 seconds to spare.
“Somebody told me one time they said, ‘You know, what you’ve lost is just bone and muscle. You’ve still got heart, and you’ve still got, you know, what’s up here,'” Leonard said, pointing to his head.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died,
We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesday Hero, you can go here.
Wednesday Hero
This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Kasee
Click Image For Full SizeSSgt. John T. Self
29 years old from Pontotoc, Mississippi
314th Security Forces Squadron
May 14, 2007
A kindhearted patriot. That’s how SSgt. John Self was described by those who knew him. “John was a good boy, a good boy who loved his country and who loved Christ and for that hell move on to a better place,” said Laron Self, Sgt. Self’s grandfather, fighting back tears.
SSgt. Self was killed, and three other airmen wounded, when an IED hit the Humvee they were traveling in while on his 79th patrol in Baghdad, Iraq. “John volunteered for this deployment while he was deployed to (Southwest Asia),” said Chief Master Sgt. Keith Morris, 314th SFS security forces manager. “We discussed this deployment via e-mail. He said he made his decision to deploy again to gain experience.”
“He could always find the humor in anything regardless of the situation,” said Senior Airman Daniel Hunsperger, a member of Self’s fire team. “He believed in everything he did. This was obvious to us after learning he had only spent two weeks home between his last deployment and volunteering for this one.”
On May 23, SSgt. Self was laid to rest with a crowd of hundreds to pay their respects. People lined both sides of the highway for more than 5 miles waving flags as the hundred-car procession traveled to the burial. Shouts of, “We love you John,” and “Thank you, John, could be heard as the train of cars passed by. “Thats a hero,” Susan Chambers, one of the many mourners, said to her son as she pointed at Self’s casket.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died,
We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesday Hero, you can go here.
Why I do this every week:
(h/t to The Rott)
Wednesday Hero
This Week’s Soldier Was Suggested By Kat
Sgt. Michael J. Stokely
23 years old from Sharpsburg, Georgia
1st Battalion, 108th Armor Regiment, 48th Brigade Combat Team
August 16, 2005
Next Saturday, August 25, the town of Peachtree City, Ga. will be holding it’s inaugural Ride To Remember for Sgt. Michael Stokely who lost his life two years ago tomorrow in Baghdad, Iraq when an IED detonated near his position. The patrol he was with had stopped and the NCO in charge had everyone take a rest while he walked back down the road with a Corporal to check out something suspicious. Sgt. Stokely refused to to rest, and instead took up a flanking position at the rear of his truck to watch their backs. Which, as a Cav Scout dismount, he saw as his job. The NCO and Corporal heard cracking noises and made their way to the sound when they were hit by an explosion. The NCO was seriously wounded but the Corporal made it through without a scratch. Sgt. Stokely, however, wasn’t so lucky.You can read more about Sgt. Michael Stokely here and here.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died,
We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesday Hero, you can go here.
You Betcha I\'m a Proud Army Mom 