Services were held Saturday for a soldier who was killed in Iraq earlier this month. Donald Young, 19, Helena, Mont., the son of Donna Smith, Joplin, was laid to rest in Montana. (Earlier AP reports indicated Cheryl Young was his mother, the latest say she was his wife. A Springfield News-Leader article indicates both Young's mother and sister live in Missouri.) Young was killed when his vehicle hit an explosive device:
His older sister, Catherine, remembered teaching him how to swim when he was 8 and she was 10.
"He was a skinny little kid, all dressed in black, standing on the diving board he looked a little scared standing there," she said. "Then this guy came and pushed him off and he screamed so loud, his arms were flapping as he fell into the water, and he sank really fast."
But Young never gave up, his sister recalled, and it was a trait he carried with him throughout his short life.
"It got him in trouble a lot, but it made him the great man he was,” she said. “He always wanted to make a difference."
The family was presented with four medals for Young, including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
2 comments:
This young man deserves the commendations he received and more for his loyal and brave service to his nation.
He has made the supreme sacrifice.
How many more must die in George W. Bush's war?
I am really sorry about your loss. I am a Vietnam Vet and carry the burden, sorrow and the wounds of that war. Let's hope this war isn't in vein like the one I was in. We thought there was just cause and we were just doing what we were told. Please don't ever let him be forgotten.
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