19

The fallen hero and dead

The photo on the left has been floating around the Net for about two weeks, showing up on several Websites and in my email in-box. I don't know its provenance, but it looks similar to Tami Silicio's photo above and may be part of that series. The photo was published on the front page of the Seattle Times, accompanying the article "The somber task of honoring the fallen". It was snapped by "Tami Silicio, a contract employee from the Seattle area who works the night shift at the cargo terminal [of the U.S. military area of Kuwait International Airport]."

The somber task of honoring the fallen

Photo: Flag-draped coffins are secured inside a cargo plane on April 7 at Kuwait International Airport. Military and civilian crews take great care with the remains of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq. Soldiers form an honor guard and say a prayer as, almost nightly, coffins are loaded for the trip home.-The Seattle Times.

The aluminum boxes, in ordered rows, are bound by clean white straps on freshly scrubbed pallets. American flags are draped evenly over the boxes. Uniformed honor guards form on either side of the pallets as they move from the tarmac to the entryways of the cargo planes. There are prayers, salutes and hands on hearts. Then the caskets are carefully placed in cargo holds for a flight to Germany. In recent weeks, military and civilian contract crews have loaded scores of these caskets onto planes departing the U.S. military area of Kuwait International Airport, south of Kuwait City. And the rituals are repeated over and over again. "The way everyone salutes with such emotion and intensity and respect. The families would be proud to see their sons and daughters saluted like that," says Tami Silicio, a contract employee from the Seattle area who works the night shift at the cargo terminal. For U.S. troops, April has been the worst month of this war, with at least 94 service members killed by hostile fire. "So far this month, almost every night we send them home," Silicio said. "... It's tough. Very tough." The remains arrive at the Kuwait airport accompanied by a soldier, sometimes a comrade from the same unit. On one occasion, the comrade was also the victim's father. Another time, the comrade was the wife. Silicio knows what it is like to lose a child. The mother of three sons suffered the death of her oldest to a brain tumor when he was 19.

Continues on the following pages.