Progressive Wednesday

Memorial Day Everyday: Read

May 30th, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday

Read:

We’d like you to read just three Associated Press obituaries for soldiers who died in Iraq. The 3,454 dead aren’t just numbers. They’re not just names and faces. They’re victims gone forever, lost during an occupation built on lies, perpetuated by lies, continuing to take lives because of lies.

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Jay Thomas Aubin, 36, of Waterville, Maine. He was one of the first six soldiers killed in Iraq.

Marine Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin was so kind, so friendly that his Marine buddies nicknamed him “Sweet Pea.” “He could make a 7-year-old girl feel like she was as important as President Bush,” said his mother, Nancy Chamberlain. Aubin, 36, died March 21 in a helicopter crash in Kuwait, near the Iraqi border. He was stationed in Yuma, Ariz., and lived there with his wife, Rhonda Aubin, and their children, 10-year-old Alicia and Nathan, 7. He grew up in Skowhegan, Maine, and joined the Marines after high school. He served four years before going to the University of Southern Maine, then re-enlisted after graduation. “When he was 4 years old, we all went to the airport and he had sat on one of my airplanes like a grown man,” said his father, Tom Aubin, who operates a small airstrip in Texas.

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Melissa Hobart, 22, of Ladson, South Carolina.

Melissa J. Hobart had a tough start, dropping out of high school and getting her GED, but by the time she graduated as a medic in the Army, she was at the top of her class, friends and family said. “We came a long way from nothing and we made it pretty far,” said Gary Hobart, her brother. “She joined the service so her daughter wouldn’t have to face the hardships we faced as younger persons.” The 22-year-old from Ladson, S.C., collapsed while on guard duty and died June 6 in Baghdad. She was based at Fort Hood. Hobart was spunky and energetic: “She was always on the go and you couldn’t keep up with her,” said her mother, Constance Hobart. The solider played soccer, basketball, baseball and the flute and loved to dance and read, her mother said. The two used to fight over who would get first crack at each new Stephen King book. Other survivors include Gary Hobart, her father, and her 3-year-old daughter, Alexis McCabe.

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William R. Strange, 19, of Adrian, Georgia.

For Pfc. William Strange, being in the military was the first step toward success. “He told me, ‘I was going down the wrong road; I’m going into the service,’” said Daniel McCoy, police chief of Adrian, Ga. Strange’s girlfriend, Teri Peebles, said he had a plan to serve in the military, go to college and eventually marry her. Strange, 19, of Adrian, was killed April 2 when an improvised explosive device detonated in Baghdad where he was setting up an observation point. Strange, who graduated from high school in Swainsboro, Ga., was based at Fort Hood, Texas. “You could have given him a million dollars and I don’t think that would have made him as happy as being in the military,” said his sister, Tawanna Davis. Strange was an outgoing person who loved people and looked out for his family. “He would do crazy stuff just to make us laugh,” Davis said. “He would make funny faces. He didn’t like seeing people sad.”