Posted by
Gene on Monday, July 07, 2008 5:35:16 PM
The unfortunate death of 31 year old Joseph Dwyer, married father of a young daughter, was just one of the more recent instances of post-war tragedy: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-lisold0706,0,814136,print.story
That is not to say that the Iraq War is over; that mission is not yet accomplished. But the war ended, finally, for Joseph Dwyer with his death on June 28th, 2008. It could not be said that his war ended with his separation from the Army in 2006 because his personal demons would not allow it.
I write this belated and abbreviated obituary for Joseph Dwyer, the young man whose picture carrying a young Iraqi victim of that war epitomized our honorable struggle in that nation, to honor him and to highlight the apparent and ultimate cause of his death. As with many thousands of other troops, he returned to his country a changed man, changed by the horrors he had witnessed.
War by defintion is a horror, a Hell for those on the field of battle mostly and a different kind of Hell for their loved ones at home, hoping and praying for their safe return. Joseph Dwyer did return but wasn’t saved from his war. He had carried it home with him and two years later became another one of its casualties.
Lincoln ended the Gettysburg Address, delivered in the midst of war, with the stirring words, “We here...
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