Fallen soldier mourned in Wilmington (heart-wrenching picture)

[wicket]

LINK

Students from Lowell Catholic High School wore their green uniform sweaters with blue-and-green plaid skirts or khaki pants as they joined the crowd lining Middlesex Avenue today between the church and the funeral home.

The white carriage holding the casket of Pfc. John Landry Jr. was pulled by two horses as it slowly passed telephone polls decorated with small American flags. Approaching St. Thomas Villanova Catholic Church, the procession went beneath an enormous stars-and-stripes suspended between the ladders of two fire trucks. The town was saying good-bye to a fallen soldier who had graduated from Lowell Catholic less than two years ago.

Landry, 20, an Army rifleman, was killed March 17 during combat in Iraq. Mourners recalled during the service that he came from a military family and had talked about joining the US Army since his freshman year. His father, John, was a Marine, and his grandfather was a member of the 82d Airborne Division.

After graduating in 2005, Landry turned down a scholarship to college and began training at Fort Benning in Georgia. He had been serving on the front lines with the Second Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment of the First Calvary Division since Oct. 31, but had just spent more than two weeks in Florida on leave with his parents. He said good-bye to his mother and father March 7 and was killed 10 days later.

:cry: :cry:

[babylonsister]

1. What a sweet mug-what a waste. nt

[ceile]

2. Horrible.

Only 20 yrs old.....

[stellanoir]

3. Tragic on any day but on St Patrick's Day no less.

Ouch.

Hope they all heal up as best as can be expected.

[Cabcere]

14. I know what you mean.

My friend was killed on Valentine's Day this year, and it will never be the same for me ever again. :cry: My thoughts & prayers are with the friends, family, and community...it's never easy. :cry:

[patrice]

4. His life will never be wasted, because we will never forget.

What happens in Washington and Iraq does not matter. These lives will not be wasted, because the People will never forget.

[Monkeyman]

5. You Got That Right

[patrice]

6. We mustn't cower when they use that word.

It is ours to determine the value of our own lives, no Washington's!

Their lives can't be wasted as long as "We, the People . . ." don't forget.

[ORDagnabbit]

16. wasnt that what the vietnam memorial wall was for?

I wish it were true...but this war wont stop other ones. :(

[Cabcere]

17. I've been wondering a lot lately

where will our wall be, for this war? And how many names must be on it when all is said and done? :shrug: (I know the human cost is far less than Vietnam...so far...but still I wonder. How many more?) :(

[Tsiyu]

7. K & R

What are we doing to our children?

For greed's sake..... :cry:

[malaise]

8. Are those his weeping kids

:cry: :cry:

Someone should send this to Bush and Cheney.

[Dr Fate]

9. Hell- that Soldier is just a kid himself.

Only 20 too- think of all the the things you did after 20 that this guy will never do.

[malaise]

12. Yep realized after I read the entire article

Could be his siblings. Fugg this occupation.

[laylah]

10. Sadly malaise

they wouldn't give a damn :cry:

Jenn

[wicket]

11. They're kids who went to school with him

:cry:

[partylessinOhio]

13. I dare you, George Bush, to look into the haunting eyes of this young man

you sacrificed when you are a coward.

You are paper mache just like the turkey you used in your fake photo op.



Rest in peace Pfc. John Landry Jr. The real patriotic Americans will never forget you and all the others who died in Iraq.

:patriot:

[Supersedeas]

23. the Coward from Crawford does not have the guts.

[lyonn]

15. All those that have died in the Iraq war should have their

pictures lining the halls of the House and Senate. Just a reminder for those people up there voting for bush's war on oil and for raking in our tax dollars for the corporations' benefit.

They don't have enough hallways to put all the seriously injured pics up.

Media avoids showing these pics as it doesn't show the good news coming in from Iraq.

[Postman]

18. Another wasted life

for George W Bush's lies.

[wicket]

19. kick

:kick:

[tnlefty]

20. I wish that I hadn't clicked on this thread.

20 yrs. old and there are so many others. I feel horrible for them all, but the young ones always send me into tears. It's been many. many. many moons ago but I remember being 20.

G*^damn you Bush** and your cabal of liars.

[wicket]

22. It's so heartbreaking tn

:hug:

:cry:

[lonestarnot]

21. arrrrg! fuck! I hate that bushitler!

[wicket]

24. kick

:kick: