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On December 7, it was Tacy who accompanied Dawn and her kids to Camp Pendleton when, along with 39 other families of Marines who died in the Iraq war, Dawn met with then newly re-elected President George W. Bush.
Tacy described the day as both exhilarating and exhausting. The families, which all had lost loved ones, met in an expo-like auditorium on the grounds of the Marine base and knew they were in for a three- to four-hour wait. Bush flew in and addressed throngs of cheering Marines. He talked about the war and the importance of the still-upcoming election in Iraq. The families did not see the speech live but watched in their auditorium via a television relay. The press was not invited to cover what happened next.
The grieving families had been grouped up in four- to five-family sets and organized to wait in small trade-show-like booths, with high black curtains separating one from the next. There was catered food. The small children were given M&M’s and crayons to help them pass the hours. Young Blake kept asking his mom, “Where’s the pastor? Where’s the pastor?” He had confused the president he’d just seen behind a podium on television with the visual of a pastor behind a pulpit.
When Bush entered the cubicle with Dawn and the kids, he was gracious and unscripted, said Tacy. “He thanked us,” said Dawn, “and told the kids their dad was a hero and a patriot.” Blake had been scheduled to receive a citizenship award in school that day, so Dawn arranged for Bush to personally sign and bestow it on him. Dawn, the ever-composed mother, actually “cried a little bit,” said Tacy.
“Bush had tears in his eyes,” said Dawn. He told her it was “the hardest decision he’d ever made, to send troops over there,” she said. “For every relative who is angry and bitter, there are many more who remain resolute in our
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http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2005-03-24/cover.asp