Military Bookshelf: Honoring Heroes

Tom Miller

May 05, 2008

Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives, by Jim Sheeler. Penguin, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-59420-165-3

Marine Major Steve Beck has one of the toughest jobs in the military—one that he says "'has changed me in fundamental ways'"—and it's thousands of miles from a war zone.

Major Beck is a casualty assistance calls officer—the one responsible for "the knock." The moment that all military families live in dread of.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Rocky Mountain News reporter Sheeler had already attended a dozen military funerals when he met Major Beck at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver in 2004 and asked if he could shadow him.

This poignant and powerful chronicle of courage, sacrifice, grief, and recovery—gradual, halting, and never complete—is the result of Sheeler's two-year journey of discovery.

The narrative structure is circuitous. "The knock" comes first and with it an initial introduction to the families—wives, children, and parents—left behind. They, in turn, introduce us to the fallen soldiers and Marines—narratives that are completed by the testimony of their comrades. Later—as much as two years—the reporter returns to see how the families are coping.

The stories, however tragic, are important for Americans to hear if only to understand how much a few are sacrificing. There's amazingly little rancor here, but Sam Holder, Sr. admits that it bothers him "how disproportionately" the burden of military service is spread. (Marine Staff Sergeant Sam Holder, Jr., was killed in Iraq when he exposed himself to draw enemy fire away from an injured comrade. Holder earned the Silver Star for what his platoon leader called "'the most courageous act I have ever seen.'")

No matter how tough you are, you will be moved. And, you should be. I was stopped cold more than once and had to put the book aside for a while. My worst moment came when Dakota Givens, the young son of Army PFC Jesse Givens, who died when his tank plunged into a Euphrates River canal, asked if God would let him "be a little boy again" when he got to heaven so that he could play with his dad.

There are lots of heroes in this important book. Only some of them ever wore a uniform.
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My Hero: Military Kids Write About Their Moms and Dads, edited by Allen Appel and Mike Rothmiller. St. Martin's, $14.95 (144p) ISBN 978-0-312-37346-7

With the assistance of the Armed Services YMCA, the editors have compiled a bittersweet collection of brief essays written by the children of servicemen and women. The essays are poignant and funny. Innocent and wise. Brave and vulnerable. They serve as a reminder of the sacrifices that our service members and their families make every day.

What their parents do isn't always perfectly clear to them. Six-year-old John Ward Tatum explains that his dad makes "bad guy maps" for the Army. Eleven-year-old William Peters notes that his Dad is an Army dermatologist—an especially critical job since without him "no one would be able to work the laser for taking tattoos off. So they would have tattoos for life and that would stink." Exactly so.

Some military parents have interesting skill sets. Seven-year-old Butler Nicklus' Mom "knows how to hotwire a car." Kids (still) say the darnest things. Eleven-year-old Katie Deal's Air Force Dad "is always busy with meetings, blabbing and making speeches." Aim High Katie.

When ten-year-old Emily Meuller's Dad was a Navy SEAL, he "traveled to Malaysia and he ate monkey brains there." Eight-year-old Joseph R. Diaz's Dad could use some of those monkey brains. According to Joseph, he's "tired, hungry, and smells when he gets home." Is that what they mean when they talk about "An Army of one?"

There's strong. And, then, there's Army strong. It's not just a slogan. Check out these PT heroes and heroines: Nine-year-old Destanie Heslar says that her Dad "can run 2 miles in 5 minutes." Oh, yeah? Well, nine-year-old Megan Thomas' Dad "can run 5 miles in 15 minutes." None of that impresses eight-year-old Analysa Cassanova-Smith whose Dad "can do 100 sit-ups without one glass of water." Hooah!

Then, there's the stuff that reminds us why these kids are special. Eight-year-old Taylor explains that he got a birthday card from his Dad in Afghanistan. "It made me cry," he writes, "I miss him so, and he will miss my birthday." Seven-year-old Blaise Giove's Marine Dad is also deployed. "I miss him all the way to Mars from Earth," she says. Eleven-year-old Benjamin Gardner notes that his Dad "goes to war even if he doesn't want to, but he does it anyway if it will help our country." But, Benjamin admits, "I just wish he could stay here forever."

Ellie Varicak, the eleven-year-old daughter of Marine Major Michael Varicak sums up why her Dad—and all the other military Moms and Dads—are heroes:
"When my father went over to Iraq, he did something that always makes me smile. He passed candy out to all the little kids who were stranded on the streets of Iraq. . . . My dad doesn't swing from webs or wrestle Joker. My dad doesn't have those abilities. But he does have what it takes to be my hero."

(20% of the royalties from My Hero will go to the Armed Services YMCA.)

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