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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?