Photo By Staff Sgt. Miles Elder | BAQUABAH, Iraq (May 29, 2006) -- Chaplain (Maj.) Jim Hartz (far left) gives a...... read more read more
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BAQUABAH, Iraq (May 29, 2006) " The true meaning of Memorial Day came alive for those who remembered their fallen comrades during a brief morning ceremony at Forward Operating Base Warhorse.
Nearly 50 members of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers honored the nation's war dead. They also remembered those among them who had fallen in the current and past rotations of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was a somber ceremony held at the camp's memorial wall marked by prayers and testimonies.
Among those present for the ceremony was Capt. Timothy Knoth, a former company commander for Company A, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment (Mechanized). The Novi, Mich., native, who now works as an assistant operations officer at FOB Warhorse, lost four men in combat operations during the past year.
"Memorial Day has taken on a totally different meaning for me," Knoth said. "It's real and it's attached to real people, real families, real dreams and real personalities."
The ceremony also stirred real emotions inside him, Knoth said. He took time to stand before the names of Cpl. Walter B. Howard II, Staff Sgt. Curtis T. Howard II, Sgt. Gordon F. Meisner and Spc. Thomas Wilwerth, all members of his former company who had lost their lives during Knoth's command.
Knoth was reluctant to talk about his own feelings. Instead, he wanted to recall each of the Soldiers.
"They're the real heroes," Knoth said. "I am privileged to have known these guys."
Knoth also remembered another fallen comrade, Capt. Eric Paliwoda, when he was mentioned by one of the speakers, Lt. Col. Leonard Wells. Paliwoda, the namesake of Forward Operating Base Paliwoda in Balad, was killed on Jan. 2, 2004, during the division's tour in Operation Iraqi Freedom I.
"Capt. Paliwoda was a great American, strong commander and a great leader," Wells said. "His men would follow him anywhere."
It was Knoth who had the difficult task of escorting his friend's remains back to the U.S. after Paliwoda's death. It was another painful memory.
As an Army leader, Knoth said Soldiers have to take time to express their grief. However, the mission must continue.
"It's not that you have to suppress your grief," Knoth said. "It's something you all share."
Both speakers for the event also shared instances where loss had touched them in their military careers. Chaplain (Maj.) Jim Hartz and Wells remembered times in their career when they dealt with grief over the loss of a fellow Soldier.
Wells, who commands 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, recalled losing a 20-year-old Soldier to a non-combat injury while he commanded a company at Fort Hood, Texas. He said the deceased Soldier was a quiet man, and he didn't know him that well.
"I knew he was a Soldier committed to the Army values," Wells said. "His loss hurt us all-- for you see he was gone, but never forgotten."
Hartz, who serves as the 3rd HBCT chaplain, recalled growing up during the Vietnam era. He said the anti-war sentiment caused him to miss the meaning of Memorial Day until a 19-year-old friend died in Vietnam.
"Memorial Day just got personal," Hartz said. "Although I still didn't understand the depth of its meaning, it still seemed right to remember him somehow."
Hartz, a Southern Baptist chaplain, recalled his first combat experiences in Somalia in 1993. He remembered Soldiers in his unit who died.
"Then it became personal," Hartz said. "The Soldiers" sacrifice had a face and Memorial Day had a meaning.
"It was this new understanding that allowed me to realize the importance of our annual remembrance of the lives, service and sacrifices of countless Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines."
The names of each of the division's combat dead were called during the ceremony. The service concluded with the traditional playing of "Taps."
| Date Taken: | 06.12.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 06.12.2006 14:43 |
| Story ID: | 6793 |
| Location: | BAQUBAH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 962 |
| Downloads: | 18 |
This work, FOB Warhorse remembers fallen comrades on Memorial Day, by SSG Miles Elder, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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