One such soldier will finally be buried in his home town: U.S. Army Corporal Henry D. Connell of Springfield, Massachusetts:
Connell was assigned to Company L, 8th Cavalry Regiment, when his unit engaged North Korean forces near Taegu, South Korea, in September 1950. He sustained injuries from a fall while evacuating wounded soldiers from the battlefield. Connell was sent to a military hospital in Japan, from which he was later reported – erroneously – to be absent without leave.
An investigation proved that Connell had returned to his unit, now battling Communist Chinese forces in North Korea in early November 1950 near Unsan, about 60 miles north of the capital of Pyongyang. He had been reported missing in action from that battle.
A young man--still a boy, actually--fighting and helping his comrades in a desperate battle to throw back the North Koreans after they invaded South Korea.
He gets a ticket out of the war and back to a hospital in Japan. But with American forces in a desperate fight with the Chinese, marking a whole new war after defeating the North Korean invasion, he headed back to the front and his unit on his own at the risk of being called a deserter by the officials back at the hospital where he was supposed to be.
Opponents of the war in Iraq like to cover themselves by insisting they are still "for the troops." Well, most anyway. But when you read of what the troops do to protect us--even if you don't think they are protecting you--how can it be such a point of pride to say you are for the troops? Shouldn't that be a natural view and not some forced attitude that you must struggle to maintain while condemning the cause for which the soldiers fight? And for which they die?
Corporal Henry D. Connell, United States Army, lived up to the ideals of duty, honor, country, and freedom so far beyond what I ever had to do that it is difficult to even think of myself as a former soldier.
Remember that soldiers (and Marines, and sailors, and airmen) fight and die for us today. Their commitment to honor and duty makes sure that our country enjoys freedom.
We all damn well should be "for the troops." It shouldn't be that difficult to feel.
