Freedom means different things to different people. Because I’ve never had to act quickly under orders that were known to put my life in jeopardy, it’s hard for me to believe that people who do so in our Armed Forces have even a second to think about the freedom for which they risk their lives every day. The reasons they serve must be so far removed from their day-to-day activities of executing orders that they couldn’t possibly spend all that much time thinking about our nation’s ideals.
They just are who they are; they do what they do. But we as a nation give those soldiers a great deal of thought, and that is especially noticeable on holidays like this.
The bronze Statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford atop the dome of the US Capitol.
This Memorial Day, I’d like to take you back to a story from last year, that of Dennis P Weichel Jr, a specialist in the Rhode Island National Guard, who was killed in Afghanistan on March 22, 2012, as reported by WPRI, an independent television station in Providence. He died in the Laghman Province in eastern Afghanistan, leaving his wife and their three children.
Spc Weichel was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment, 56th Troop Command, Rhode Island National Guard in East Greenwich. His unit was in a convoy patrolling the province when they encountered children on the road ahead of their mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle, a heavily armored truck. The children were picking up spent brass shell casings, which they can sell for a few pennies each.
When the soldiers requested the children move out of the way, all except one young boy did so. The boy ran back to pick up some casings that were in the path of the vehicle, and Spc Weichel quickly lifted the boy out of the way. However, Spc Weichel was hit himself by the truck and later died of his injuries.
Did he have time to think about his wife and children when he ran to save the young Afghan boy? Did he think about the freedoms he was in Afghanistan to protect when he gave his life to save someone who was weaker? We may never know.
Over the years in our young nation, many others have served our country and their friends with equal selflessness and bravery. Such giving hearts are appreciated by an Afghan boy who is alive today because of a soldier’s bravery on a road in eastern Afghanistan, by a nation that honors those who follow tough orders, and by a human race that still debates the role of the US in foreign lands.
“Specialist Dennis Weichel’s life was marked by bravery, selflessness, and commitment to others, and unfortunately it was in demonstrating these remarkable characteristics that it was lost,” said Gov Lincoln Chafee. “Specialist Weichel will be remembered by his fellow soldiers and commanding officers as a dedicated member of the Rhode Island National Guard.”
