Human faces

[khaosworks]

Baltimore Marine Dies In Chopper Crash
Victim's Father Has Strong Words For Bush

BALTIMORE -- One of the first American casualties in the war against Iraq is a Baltimore man, and his family shared their feelings about the war Friday.

WBAL-TV 11 NEWS first broke the news Friday afternoon that a Baltimore man is among a group of Marines killed in a helicopter crash inside Kuwait that happened late Thursday night.

Marine Sgt. Kendall Waters-Bey He is identified as Marine Staff Sgt. Kendall Waters-Bey, 29, of northeast Baltimore, WBAL-TV 11 NEWS reported. He is based out of Camp Pendleton in California and leaves behind four younger sisters and a 10-year-old son who lives in Baltimore.

"It's sad that this war is going on and that we have to lose so many people over nothing. I can't bring my brother back, but I really miss him," one of the soldier's sisters said.

WBAL-TV 11 NEWS reporter Noel Tucker spoke with the Marine's father who lives in northeast Baltimore where friends and neighbors were seen sobbing in the streets, sharing their grief with the family.

The family spoke with WBAL-TV 11 NEWS Friday afternoon and shared their feelings against the war.

As he held a picture of his son, Waters-Bey's father, Michael, said: "I want President Bush to get a good look at this, really good look here. This is the only son I had, only son." He then walked away in tears, with his family behind him. Kenneth, the Marine's only son, was with the family.

Thanks to binkiegirl for bringing this to my attention.

This is the cost of war. Some die in battle, some die in senseless accidents, some die by pure chance, but the price of command, the price of sending people over to fight, is to watch some of those people die.

By next week, we - unless we knew him personally - will no longer remember Kendall Walters-Bey. Horrible, but true. Oh, we'll remember vaguely that 4 American and 8 British marines died in a helicopter crash in Kuwait, but we won't remember his name, and probably not his face either. New casualties will take their place, and new things will grab our attention. Eventually he will become a statistic, a footnote on a page of a history paper, or book on the war.

At the same time, if anyone's looking hard at Kendall Waters-Bey's picture, like his father suggests, take a good hard look at the skyline over Baghdad, and wonder about the pictures of those killed in the bombing. Because we're not seeing them. Nobody's talking about Iraqi civilian casualties. No one will even discuss it. Of course not! Why? It may weaken our resolve. But don't kid yourself and think there aren't civilian casualties, or put it out of your mind because nobody's talking about them. But it's not just civilians, of course. Waters-Bey wasn't a civilian. And there are Iraqi soldiers to consider just as well as coalition soliders.

Yes, we all know people die in war, yes we all know it's horrible, and yes, it'll all be forgotten soon, so why should I keep bringing it to your attention?

Because it shouldn't be forgotten. Because even if we forget Kendall Waters-Bey himself, we shouldn't forget that for every dead person, there are survivors that suffer as well. That the net of casualties spreads far beyond the figures of the dead or wounded. Why do the war protests continue? Why should they continue? Because people need to be reminded how horrible war is before they next tune in to the next episode of "Survivor". Because there will be choices to be made in future as to when to wage wars, and for every generation that forgets, well, the choice to wage it becomes so much easier.

Look. Don't turn away. Remember. This is the price. Over and over and over.

Is it worth it?

Comments

[figmo.livejournal.com]

It gets me that I see almost no news coverage of U.S. casualties. During Vietnam we'd see the names of the soldiers who died scroll in a segment of the news dedicated to them.

[senchen.livejournal.com]

Casualties are only natural in war, but the thing that irritates me about these helicopter troubles is that some of these individual Chinook-chassis helicopters are nigh on thirty-five years old. And the design dates back to the sixties if not before. If you know anything about helicopters you'll know they're ticky enough brand new, let alone operating in the desert.

The Air Force drops bombs more advanced than these helicopters. Even the Navy is slated to get stealthed ship designs in the next series of carriers and cruisers. But the poor Army and Marines have to make do with Vietnam-era helicopters. One soldier I happen to be acquainted with remarked bitterly that there are names carved into the interior of some of these choppers which belong to the fathers of the soldiers now riding in them.

It almost makes me wish I paid taxes so that I could complain that they were being misused.

[jost.livejournal.com]

I really empathize with this guy for losing his son, I really do. However, his son enlisted in the Marine Corps and apparently went Infantry. His son died following orders after engaging in combat. Whether or not it was his only son is irrelevant to the fact that his only son chose to enlist in the military, which means putting himself in harms way when given the order to. I heard plenty of people on LJ and other media that were complaining about the possibility of their sons, daughters, various relations, etc might get killed because they signed up for the military. "He only signed up so he could afford college, so why should he have to fight?" was my personal favorite. Is the death of his only son a sad event? Yes. We know he wasn't drafted so we can safely say that he enlisted himself voluntarily. This isn't a "he got what he deserved" rant by any means, but he did have to know the possibility of military service when signing up in the military.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

Of course he was a soldier, and he knew the risks. But at the end of the day, that does not make the loss of life any less deserving of note than a civilian. In fact, what makes it even more tragic is that it was an accident, not a situation where he knew he was placing himself directly in harm's way. I was trying to make the point that casualties count in human terms and every death, soldier or civilian, belongs to a person with a family. In a just or unjust war, they are still to be mourned and not dismissed.

Re:

[jost.livejournal.com]

I agree with you that they deserve to be mourned and they deserve the respect of every American for their sacrifice, even if it was the result of an accident. I just know the pervasive attitude of a good number of Americans these days and they are just looking for sombody to blame (and thusly sue). Perhaps my ire at that mentality colored my reading of your post. This guy died in the act of protecting me and millions of others, no matter the specific action, and does deserve all the honor we can bestow upon him.