“Pvt.
The DoD press releases are clinically
factual but fail to make the whole story understandable. Consider this: He finished high school 12 months ago. In those 12 months, he qualified as a turret
gunner. Those qualifications include the
ability to precisely control a .50 caliber machine gun that is heavy, violent,
hot and loud. Secondly, he must keep his
head under the most stressful circumstances.
So
when the press release reads “small arms and RPG” fire and the news
reports that he “suffered a wound to the eye”, one might think that the
enemy has a really good sniper. That’s
not it at all. As grenades exploded all
around
His
mounted platoon had moved into an ambush.
Everything was normal and then suddenly everything was wrong. Soldiers are intensely trained just what to
do: Get out of the kill zone. Get out of the kill zone. Get out of the kill zone.
There
is one soldier who is the exception to that rule: The turret gunner. He is the one who must suppress the enemy so
that his friends can get out of the kill zone.
He alone must dominate the battle so that everyone else, both friend and
foe, will run and hide.
The
family received a letter from one of his battle buddies (In the army, friends
call each other by their last names.
Good friends sometimes don’t even know the first names. That’s just the way it is.) that was read during a TV
news report:
No one else was hurt and it was because
of Drees that no one got hurt. He did his job. He did it well. He kept us safe and he is a hero to all of
us.
The
letter-writer is alive because
In a
hallway of his high school, adjacent to the auditorium, high on the wall, are
class photos.
On a pleasant
summer day, exactly 400 days after Graduation Day,
It
was a 200 mile ride for me but I managed to reach the funeral home by 0800 on a
fair Tuesday. We escorted
In
the last hour before the service was to begin, the waiting line extended out
the doors and down the sidewalk. This
young veteran waited in line. He wore
his medals as he is entitled to do and as I wish more would. Notice his Bronze Star. It is an individual military decoration and
the fourth-highest award for bravery, heroism or meritorious service. It is awarded to a member of the military who
distinguished himself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service while
engaged in an action against an enemy of the
Peshtigo
is located in the center of the 8th Congressional District and
Representative
As did
Perhaps
most significantly, Major General Scott West attended
And
so it was.
After
the service, about 1830, we escorted
The
family invited us to the riverfront park for a picnic. They were very insistent and when I saw the
great quantity of food waiting for us, I understood why. The last time I was confronted with a vast
spread like this was in nearby Merrill for Ryan Jopek. I still have his decal on the bike
windshield.
~~~
We
returned to the funeral home Wednesday morning.
Most of us would travel in procession but I went to the cemetery in advance
with the smaller group.
The
property is a long rectangle with short sides at the road and the river. It presents to the street with a simple white
sign and a row of 20-foot flagpoles.
The
one taller flagpole in the center flew Old Glory at half-mast. Behind it was a granite dedication to “the
men and women who served their country.”
The
two property corners near the road were occupied by monuments from two
wars. North of the flags, the
The
granite tribute south of the flags lists the 150 county residents killed in
World War II.
At
his base we read that this statue is “dedicated to her sons who offered their
lives in freedom’s cause” in three wars:
War of Rebellion 1861-1865
Spanish-American War 1898
and
the Great War 1914-1918
No
list of the dead is offered.
The
rest of our detail had found flags and places to stand. It was time to put my camera down and pick my
flag up. I took one last look around and
saw a Gold Star couple surveying the peaceful setting.
And
then I joined a Gold Star mom in line to wait for
At 35
minutes past noon,
~~~
I had
lunch at O.J.’s Midtown Restaurant (which I can
recommend) in Gillett (population 1200) and then started south again. In just two blocks I saw another memorial
that reminded me of the front of the
I
would have said “all” instead of “any”.
And “her” instead if “its”. The
other 12 words are okay with me.
The
date is 1931. That is important because
it tells us what they were remembering when they placed it. They were remembering the War of Rebellion,
the Spanish-American War and the Great War.
I
returned across the street to my bike where the hardest-working girl in Gillett
labored.
Her tenant
had left, so Sarah was removing the obsolete façade from her building.
And then on down the road. The threat
of rain would be greater farther south so I wanted to get home before dark.
But no Interstate. I took the
little roads through the country that had produced so many fine infantrymen and
other warriors.
May
God bless
Thanks
Photography:
back to ALL MISSIONS