"In Peace, Sons bury their fathers. In War, Fathers bury their sons." Herodotus (484 BC - 425 BC), ancient Greek historian, sometimes called "the Father of History." From today's wars, Americans and their allies, and Afghans, Pakistanis and Iraqis are burying their sons and daughters and other family members. Each vigil is in memory of them and the pain their families must bear.
Chris Fishbeck was a young man with tremendous ambition. Growing up in Buena Park, CA, he loved physics and astronomy, read Stephen Hawking writings and dreamed of becoming a pilot or an astronaut. As a boy, he convinced his parents to regularly take him to the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum or to the Griffith Park Observatory as he loved to study the planets and space flight. But he was also an every day kid who played Pop Warner football and he wrestled. But he was best known for his enthusiasm and for his funny stories, according to his wife and his friends. One friend described him as a class clown who one Halloween, wore his sister's cheerleader outfit to make everyone laugh.
Chris joined the U.S. Army in October of 2009 and in November, 2010 was deployed to Iraq. While on leave, he reconnected with an old high school friend, Stephanie Kidder who was in Germany teaching English. They stayed in touch through Facebook and Skype, as he swept her off her feet and in March, 2011 they were married. Two months later, Chris was given leave to be with his father who was having open heart surgery.
But two weeks after returning to Iraq, on June 6th, 2011 U.S. enemies launched a rocket attack on Camp Loyalty near Baghdad, and SPC. Chris Fishbeck, age 24 was among six U.S. soldiers killed. On June 20th, he was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Cyprus, CA. "He dove into everything wholeheartedly," his mother told the Los Angeles Times. "And the family is brokenhearted he is gone."
Chris will never achieve his dreams, never build a life with Stephanie, never have children, never again be with his family and friends and never become a force for good in his community and in the world. He is forever gone to all of us.
Meanwhile, at last night's vigil John Fortier and I received many horn honks and waves of support as the vigil candle burned brightly with hope for peace, so no more people like Chris will be sent back to their families for burial.
Dick
1) To learn more about Chris, please see his Los Angeles Times obit: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/11/local/la-me-christopher-fishbeck-20111211
2) Today, the New York Times published the story of a 2005 U.S. Marine massacre of 24 Iraqi men, women and children, including a 76 year old man in a wheel chair and children as young as toddlers. Until now the U.S. Military had kept it "classified," but the Times found the information thrown away in a junkyard. To learn more, please see "Junkyard Gives Up Secret Accounts of Massacre in Iraq." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/world/middleeast/united-states-marines-haditha-interviews-found-in-iraq-junkyard.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22
3) Thank you to my friend Genous for this timeless Herodotus quote
No comments:
Post a Comment