*** KIA ***
SSGT Justus Bartelt, USMC
Polo, IL
July 23, 24, 25, 2010
Born in 1983.
On the Fourth of July.
click for Justus
Bartelt Mission information
Justus Bartelt’s funeral will be handled by the Polo Family
Funeral Home which three months ago handled the funeral of Lucile Wales who
attained a triple-digit age. Her
obituary reads, in part:
She was preceded in death by her
children Margaret Brown and John Hiatt, grandson Greg Bowman and great grandson
Tim Bowman.
Our Ride Captain for the Justice Bartelt KIA Mission is Mike
Bowman, father of Tim and brother of Greg.
Tim served his country as a soldier and Greg served his country as a
Senior Ride Captain of the Patriot Guard Riders.
O’Hare staging instructions follow in red:
Staff Sgt. Justus S. Bartelt, 27, of Polo,
The family of Justus Bartelt has requested that the Patriot Guard
Riders help them honor their fallen hero through all aspects of his escorts and
services.
Arrival:
Date: 23 Jul 10
O'Hare Location: United
Air Cargo
BLDG 610 CARGO ACCESS ROAD
O'Hare staging: 0945
Map for United Air Cargo O'Hare
Friday escort info immediately follows in blue:
Staff Sgt. Justus S. Bartelt, 27, of Polo,
The family of Justus Bartelt has requested that the Patriot Guard
Riders help them honor their fallen hero through all aspects of his escorts and
services.
Arrival will be tomorrow
Friday July 23, 2010 at O’Hare Airport
The Patriot Guard will gather riders at
the
Since we are going
to O’Hare, we are going to have only bikes escort the family, no
cages. Anyone that wants can gather at the Polo Family Funeral Home in
Polo to prepare a flag line for the arrival there. We are guessing that
we should return sometime around 1500 hrs. There will be flag support at
the Funeral Home.
Just to clarify the route of the escort,
we are now going south from Polo on IL Rt 26 to I88, on to 294 to the
O’Hare rest area for fuel and meet our final leo escort.
We are NOT going to O’Hare via I90 and
will not be stopping at
Visitation will be on Saturday July 24th from 1400 till 1900 hours
at the
Staging will be at 1200 hrs to put up flags before the arrival
of the family at 1300 hrs. Parking for the visitation will be on the
north side of the high school at the loading dock entrance. Look for the
bikes.
Funeral will be on Sunday July 25th at 1300 hours, also at the
Staging will be at 1100 hrs. Parking is to be determined
yet.
Okay, look: I know being a
biker is not the same as being an infantryman.
But I am sewing my 4 by 6 that I expect to be consumed tomorrow and I
was thinking about the movie Patton.
The family will leave Polo with a nice send-off, be escorted 100
miles by a contingent of flag-flying motorcycles, arrive at O’Hare to find a flagline
waiting, be surrounded by many respectful people who never met their Marine as
he is transferred from jet to hearse, be escorted 100 miles by a contingent of
flag-flying motorcycles, arrive back at Polo to find another flagline waiting
and again be surrounded by many respectful people who never met their Marine as
he is transferred from hearse to home.
All on 12 hours notice with National AWOL and other local KIA
missions the previous and the following weeks.
“This is where it pays off.
The training and discipline. No
other outfit in the world. Pulled out of
a winter battle, move a hundred miles.
Going to a major attack with no rest, no sleep, no hot food. God! God, I'm proud of these men!”
That’s it. I’ve got more
sewing to do.
My
experience of the escort:
I
went to O’Hare cargo. It was another
sunny day. I adjusted the camera for the
harsh light and started.
This
next photo is not what it seems. If you
take lots of pictures, some of them will be misleading.
Ray
is a Marine. You can read on his lanyard
if you can’t read in his face. He had to
work or he would be standing with the rest of us.
All
the United Cargo people are very helpful at times like this. She brings the young Marines over to us.
The
Leatherneck greets the supplenecks.
And
then we stood.
We
formed facing ranks at the base of a truck ramp that leads to the cargo
transshipment area. Soon, a bus arrived
from Polo. It contained the immediate
family, other family and other people.
They walked through our corridor and up the ramp. We followed and the hearse followed us.
Inside
the feeling was industrial. It seemed
dark because the day was so bright. One
long wall was a bank of truck bays. In every
other direction were narrow forklift paths that ran through nondescript
equipment. Ray told me that this
building would be razed within a year, so maintenance on it had (obviously)
been suspended. It was all vaguely
threatening.
But
it was quiet. The garage doors and the
forklifts were stilled. The hearse was
pointed to the top of the ramp – its rear opened to at a small clearing that
served as a junction of forklift paths.
A single rank of PGRiders formed an arc extending from one rear fender
of the hearse into the darkness of the building. The bus passengers formed an arc several
ranks deep extending from the other rear fender, roughly facing us. There was an opening between the ends of our
arcs that communicated with a path that disappeared behind a wall.
Cargo
handlers from all over the freight section of O’Hare had converged on our
formation. We waited.
Six
Marines carrying a flag-draped casket came around the corner: “Present arms!” Everyone – PGRiders, bus passengers, cargo
handlers – moved their right arm, but absolutely nothing else. The small detail moved through our midst to
the rear of the hearse. The casket
holding Justus Bartelt was let into the vehicle.
“Order
arms!” Justus’ mother collapsed.
She
didn’t fall – she just couldn’t stand.
The momentary solemnity of the dignified transfer had held her up but
when the door closed, there was nothing left.
A few of the bus passengers went to her aid. Everyone else held their position. Then followed a short space of time.
This
was the moment that Justus was returned.
Years earlier he had been transformed from a private American to a GI,
“government issue”. He had been made
into a part of our military machine.
Like a cog on a gear, he moved in concert with other private Americans
who had volunteered to give the Commander-in-Chief the most potent tool of
foreign policy the world has ever known.
If Justus had ridden a motorcycle without a helmet and injured himself
while in service, he might have been punished for “damaging government
property” – himself. He was not a
private American anymore; he was a GI.
Until
this moment. The military machine had
used him until he was used up. So now he
was returned to his family. Justus had
been transported to
Most
private Americans who volunteer to go to war come back alive. Some are damaged in ways we can see and some
are damaged in ways we cannot see. But
nearly all are able to return to a relatively normal private American
life. At the same time, however,
everyone of these private Americans who volunteers is fully aware of the dark
possibilities. And their families know
them too.
For
those few minutes after Justus had first been returned to his mother, I stood
with a flagpole steadied in my left hand as my eyes studied a distant garage
door. His mother was kneeling, her face
inches from a concrete floor that had been smoothed by years of forklift
wheels. For those few minutes I thought
about this magnificent moment.
We
will not carve his image into
And
then they put them at risk for the benefit of millions of others who may not
appreciate their courage and their sacrifice.
And
then we left. The busload of country
folks, especially the younger ones, must have felt uneasy coming into a dense
urban area and then the cargo area of the world’s busiest airport. Now they were going back and they had several
layers of security wrapped around them.
First is the bus. A little piece
of Polo was packaged in that steel container.
Just before them they could see the hearse and beyond the hearse, the
PGRiders.
The
bikes were led by State Police who routed our procession along utility roads
until were entered the O’Hare Oasis by a service entrance. We descended the ramp to find I-294 emptied
for us. All four lanes had been
stopped. The only people using this
piece of the Interstate Highway System at this time were Justus and his party.
Then
we turned westward onto I-88 and found that it too had been made available for
our exclusive use.
We
took a break at the Dekalb stop. Some
people from the bus walked toward the building.
A few of the bikers got gas.
Mostly we just waited. Then we
were joined by more bikes that had come from our destination to meet us and
take us in.
Most
of the bus riders stayed near the bus.
And
then we started moving west again. On to
As
we got close, Shield MC fell in. And
then we all rolled into town. The
streets were lined with people. Justus
was back to stay.
I
had lunch in a nice restaurant. This was
the view from my booth.
On
my way out of town, I located the high school.
They were cutting the grass.
I
stopped at the first cornfield east of town.
According to the traditional metric of these pages, this was the height
of the corn the day Justus returned to Polo.
POLO, Ill. - In a one-time only deal, the mother of
Marine Staff Sergeant Justus Bartelt spoke out Thursday.
"We all stand before you as Justus' family whether by blood or bond,"
said Jeannie Kyker, Justus' mother.
A battalion of support in family and friends surrounded Kyker inside
"He was a best friend to those who knew him as a friend. He was a true and
loyal family member and he was a true and loyal marine."
Bartelt, a 27-year old from Polo,
"I am proud of the fact that he died in combat, protecting yours and my
freedom and future generations of freedom," said Kyker.
News of the tragedy spread quickly through the close-knit community. Flags fly
at half-staff. Ribbons in yellow and red, white, and blue wave in the wind on
nearly every street.
"In times of trouble, tribulation, a small community rallies," said
Kyker. "They know you, they know your life. They know your loss. They feel
it also."
Inside
"His legacy is one of charm, humor, wit. He was strong. He loved his
country. He loved his family. He died for both."
Funeral services are set for Sunday at 1 p.m. at
http://www.wqad.com/news/wqad-polo-marine-death-illinois-justus-bartelt-072210,0,2159399.story
I
would return for the funeral two days later – I was not there for the
visitation the next day. I am informed
that we drank 28 cases of water, in addition to ice tea and lemonade. And then I did return:
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