By Staff
Editor's note: Capt. Wesley T. Pickens is a member of the Mississippi Army National Guard currently serving in Iraq, where he is a logistics manager for the 298th Corps Support Battalion from Philadelphia. In his civilian life, he is a corporate pilot from Collinsville. Pickens wrote this column in tribute to his friend, 2nd Lt. Matt Stovall of Philadelphia, who was killed in Iraq on Aug. 22.
Funeral services for Stovall are scheduled today at 2 p.m. at McClain-Hays Funeral Home in Philadelphia, with burial at Coldwater Baptist Church cemetery.
By Capt. Wesley T. Pickens / special to The Star
August 29, 2004
Appearing the same as every other morning that I have spent in Iraq, the sun begins to peak over a beautiful, cloudless horizon. The weather in this worn-torn land is strikingly predictable. Although it is quite miserable in the scorching heat of the noon hour, for the past six months, these cool, desert mornings have brought me a temporary sense of tranquility.
Climbing into a Humvee on this solemn morning, my roommate and I begin a slow drive to the camp's airfield. Today, watching the beautiful sunrise carries little consolation, for a candle in my heart has been extinguished forever.
There are many reasons why America's sons and daughters choose to serve in uniform, and my own reasons reflect that of the majority. How can anyone forget the millions of veterans who have offered personal sacrifice in the name of advancing our country's inalienable freedoms?
This morning, as we drive to the airfield, I'm haunted with the realization of knowing that one of these veterans, today, is departing this combat zone with a void that can never be filled.
A story of two brothers
The events of war may bring complete strangers together in the bonds of brotherhood, but no greater anxiety compares to the knowledge that one's own flesh and blood is out of the reach of a loving brother's protection. There are several examples of this situation in our current war, but for almost a year, I've closely witnessed two brothers in the throes of this personal agony.
The "Stovall Boys" represent the very best of the sacrifices that this country is making in our current war. Reared among the back roads and foothills of rural Mississippi, they both went off to college, where each met the love of his life.
Not unlike many of their neighbors along the way, they also made the short trip down the road to the local National Guard armory.