With thousands of flags, honoring fallen heroes he's never met
(CBS News) STERLING, Ky. - Two American service members were killed Friday by
enemy rockets in Afghanistan. Here at home, it is all too easy to forget about
the war -- and the sacrifice of Americans in uniform and their families.
But there is a man determined to make sure our fallen heroes get the final salute they deserve. CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman met him, "On the Road."
If you only knew Private First Class Dustin Gross, or his family -- or even if you just grew up in this same small Kentucky town -- you'd be here too.
But what if you didn't know Dustin at all? What if all you knew about him was that he was an Army soldier killed in Afghanistan last week by a roadside bomb? How far out of your way would you go to honor his loss?
How about 602 miles?
Larry Eckhardt drove 11 hours, with a trailer in tow.
"All they know is that I'm coming to try and help them pay respect to one of their own," Eckhardt said.
clip...
Larry Eckhardt's Facebook page
That's why for the last six years he's been going to every funeral he can. He typically arrives the night before, recruits local volunteers and then -- rain or shine -- lines the processional route with Stars and Stripes forever.
"Just grab some flags and get going," Eckhardt tells a group of those volunteers.
For Gross' funeral, the flags lined eight miles of procession route -- with 2,200 flags.
Pfc. Gross' parents, Angie Brown and Stacey Dean Gross, are grateful.
"That's somebody who's got a heart right there," Brown said. "I don't think we could thank him enough. I really don't."
It really is an incredible gift -- paid for through donations and a lot of his own money.
clip...
Turns out, when you line a country road like a hero's coming, he gets treated like one. People drop whatever they're doing. Flags beget flags. And for eight miles, one family's loss is shouldered by an entire community.
This was Larry's 86th funeral. And although he hopes more than anything that it's his last, you can bet that if and when the time comes, he will be there to honor that soldier he never met -- for that sacrifice he can't ignore
But there is a man determined to make sure our fallen heroes get the final salute they deserve. CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman met him, "On the Road."
If you only knew Private First Class Dustin Gross, or his family -- or even if you just grew up in this same small Kentucky town -- you'd be here too.
But what if you didn't know Dustin at all? What if all you knew about him was that he was an Army soldier killed in Afghanistan last week by a roadside bomb? How far out of your way would you go to honor his loss?
How about 602 miles?
Larry Eckhardt drove 11 hours, with a trailer in tow.
"All they know is that I'm coming to try and help them pay respect to one of their own," Eckhardt said.
clip...
Larry Eckhardt's Facebook page
That's why for the last six years he's been going to every funeral he can. He typically arrives the night before, recruits local volunteers and then -- rain or shine -- lines the processional route with Stars and Stripes forever.
"Just grab some flags and get going," Eckhardt tells a group of those volunteers.
For Gross' funeral, the flags lined eight miles of procession route -- with 2,200 flags.
Pfc. Gross' parents, Angie Brown and Stacey Dean Gross, are grateful.
"That's somebody who's got a heart right there," Brown said. "I don't think we could thank him enough. I really don't."
It really is an incredible gift -- paid for through donations and a lot of his own money.
clip...
Turns out, when you line a country road like a hero's coming, he gets treated like one. People drop whatever they're doing. Flags beget flags. And for eight miles, one family's loss is shouldered by an entire community.
This was Larry's 86th funeral. And although he hopes more than anything that it's his last, you can bet that if and when the time comes, he will be there to honor that soldier he never met -- for that sacrifice he can't ignore
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57437366/with-thousands-of-flags-honoring-fallen-heroes-hes-never-met/
28 comments:
Remarkable.
The separation of those who bear the costs of war from the population at large, myself included, is not a healthy civic condition.
Good Morning, Jo, Publius.
I was thinking the same thing, that when we had the draft, the whole society was aware of the sacrifices and consequences of war. Not so with the volunteer army and the privatizing.
I was thinking that it was a mistake, to segment our society that way. Now, I'm not so sure. On NPR, there's a concerted effort by companies to hire veterans, and one remark I remember was that since soldiers have to make decisions constantly, there are many jobs that require that capacity but not necessarily a college education. The stock market and trading was one example given.
I don't have the answer, and I'm concerned about the professional warrior class and privatizing, but if our society honors and offers veterans benefits, services, and opportunities, maybe it won't be a terrible mistake.
Just goes to show you, sometimes the right answer isn't always obvious.
Have a fine day, folks.
More wildfires in Colorado: one near Pagosa Springs, another near Pueblo. Three million acres affected by the Ponderosa pine beetle, so lots of fuel present.
Last thought: McCain's remark that Obama's international policies are feckless. Who's feckless?! is my response. Obama ended the Iraq War, provided crucial help in Libya's revolution, negotiated an end date in Afghanistan, reduced nuclear weapons in Russia and, stopped, so far, Iran's threatening and North Korea's. And so, Mr. McCain, who's feckless in this regard? Grrrr.
Howard sharesa first with our American heros today!
had to share this - I love Michelle and what she is doing for our vets and their families and for nutrition for us all.
------
American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America [Hardcover]
Michelle Obama (Author)
In April 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama planted a kitchen garden on the White House’s South Lawn. As fresh vegetables, fruit, and herbs sprouted from the ground, this White House Kitchen Garden inspired a new conversation all across the country about the food we feed our families and the impact it has on the health and well-being of our children.
Now, in her first-ever book, American Grown, Mrs. Obama invites you inside the White House Kitchen Garden and shares its inspiring story, from the first planting to the latest harvest. Hear about her worries as a novice gardener – would the new plants even grow? Learn about her struggles and her joys as lettuce, corn, tomatoes, collards and kale, sweet potatoes and rhubarb flourished in the freshly tilled soil. Get an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at every season of the garden’s growth, with striking original photographs that bring its story to life. Try the unique recipes created by White House chefs and made with ingredients just picked from the White House garden. And learn from the White House Garden team about how you can help plant your own backyard, school or community garden.
Mrs. Obama’s journey continues across the nation as she shares the stories of other gardens that have moved and inspired her: Houston office workers who make the sidewalk bloom; a New York City School that created a scented garden for the visually impaired; a North Carolina garden that devotes its entire harvest to those in need; and other stories of communities that are transforming the lives and health of their citizens.
In American Grown, Mrs. Obama tells the story of the White House Kitchen Garden, celebrates the bounty of gardens across our nation, and reminds us all of what we can grow together.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Grown-Kitchen-Gardens-America/dp/0307956024
Agree, Jo--Michelle Obama is an inspiration to many people for many things. But her kitchen garden is number one!
I love her.
Thanks for the tongue good wishes folks.
I agree, Pat about getting the Republican party back to an honest opponent.
In 2004 Garrison Keillor did a multi disc CD set titled "Homegrown Democrat."
On this he talks about the mainstream Republican Party of previous generations.
Two parties each with clear and honest
'goals" seems best.
Have to take a nap in preparation for being picked up to watch a Salsa Dance event in Central City Park here in GSO early this evening.
Puddle, your garden sounds wonderful.
And now, Romney is claiming that the military is weakened under Obama.
Where are all the anti-war Progressives coming to Obama's defense?
And, will Romney perpetrate any lie he can imagine in order to obtain power? The man has no credibility whatsoever with me.
And, the incident of his bullying the student who was gay, overpowering him and cutting his hair, what does that say about his character.
I hope people will get involved in this election. If they don't come out, we may be very very sorry for the rest of our lives.
Hi Shirlee. I appreciate your comments. If there is integrity and real interest in the well being of our society, we should be able to work with different viewpoints and come up with good solutions for problems. I'm an idealist, I guess.
Pat, I have never felt that being a pessimist accomplished anything
in any part of life.
I like a dash of realism thrown in
and a knowledge of how things really work along with the idealism. We are getting that here at Jo's Place rather than having to fight a rear-guard action against the nay-sayers. Frankly I feel as though someone has stopped beating me on the head! It feels good.
Doc Watson still in critical condition--
maybe complicated by other health problems--
Good Night now--we had a sudden downpour during the salsa dancing. Dancers moved under the pavilion. Audience got wet--off to warm back up and watch some more of the GSO Civic Voices series.
Good to be here.
Jeepers. I've been on the other thread all day, lol! Sorry I missed ya'll! Night!
Hi Jo, Shirlee, Puddle,
Yes, Shirlee, it was a rear guard effort on the old blog, and I'm glad we stuck with it, despite the stress and bad feelings.
I'm an optimist too, always have been, can't believe that problems can't be solved or that people can't grow to understand themselves and each other.
Just finished watching Hemingway and Gelhorn on HBO. It's well done. I was surprised that it was on HBO. I'd thought it was a new release to the theaters.
I can't imagine what it must have been to be in Franco's Spain, in China when the Japanese invaded, and to witness the dead at Dachow (spell). I don't know that I'd have had the courage to live with that. An excellent, if long movie, and Hemingway comes off as unstable, but has some appeal. I like his writing, but I'm not sure I'd have liked him. Gelhorn is admirable.
Well, yes, good night folks, and thank you Jo, Puddle, Shirlee, Publius, Denise and others who make this conversation available.
Dachau is the correct spelling. Thanks, Google.
nice to see publius here = another practical thinker who doesn't just post the same old republican talking points. he is thoughtful and considerate of others all of the tim. thank you pub.
I also am relieved not to be beaten over the head every day - for a long time it was an avenue to debate things and bring facts and optimism to the conversation but that ended long ago. at some point it became obvious that certain people there had no intention of having real debate or a civil conversation. I don't miss that at all.
thank you for being here ladies - I learn so much from you all and appreciate the hope and practical thinking that you share. this election is such a big deal and meanwhie there are 'progressives' everywhere whining and threatening to sit this one out. how very petty and small that is. me, me, me. sheesh!
Pretty peaceful night. Feeling a bit intimidated by all I've scheduled myself for today. Like to get the tomatoes planted *before* the rain. But big task-- involving water buckets, wheelbarrows and a long trek upfield.
About two/thirds finished with the floor leveling job. I *may* finish it without having to move the counter: looking better and better. Then have to notch the wallboard a bit more so the counter boards don't angle quite so steeply (miscalc when the kid did it last year). Paint the newish undercounter trolley. Deep red; have had the paint for a year, but not the energy. Eventually hang the skirting (thirty year old blue/white hand loomed print, batik, brought home from China, waiting for the *perfect* place, lol! I am patient, if nothing else. The fabric is interesting: that minority (Miow comes to mind, but don't remember exactly) is fairly famous in China for home loomed fabrics: but it's narrow: about 13 inches wide. Their clothing is designed to be put together in 13" segments. . . . wise tribe, that, grin.
If I even get near that before bedtime, I'll be a most happy camper!
Hi Puddle,
We visited the Miao people, near Kungming. We saw an amazing peacock dance in a local restaurant. The dancer's hands, her posture, her minute and slow movements were beautiful. She became the peacock. I recall buying beads and a dress from a vender there. The beads were red, like berries with black centers.
We also visited the Stone Forest, and a little boy was climbing at the very edge of a crag that had a precipitous drop. My husband turned pale, and happily the boy's father grabbed his son before he could fall.
I'd love to see the fabric you mentioned. I recall hearing and reading that China has 55 minority groups, and each has its own culture and dialect. I also recall being in the water throwing parade where people celebrate spring by dousing you with water. It was fun, if surprising.
I know what you mean about energy, and you have far more reason to have to calculate what tasks will takethan I do. I've always been energetic, but lately, I have very little. I told my husband that the old age fairy must have zapped me while I was sleeping, and now I am the old age fairy.
Have a good day, and there's always tomorrow to continue a project.
And, on the other hand, a 75 year old runner, woman, will take part in the Boulder marathon this year, says she has 20 more good years to run.
; )
That runner *won't* be me. Never would have been me, lol!
BUT, when Michael and I were building both of our houses/and trading expertise and muscle that summer, mister bright and early was basically DONE by two. Could barely wiggle after that. I managed, with work/break/work to get to ten or eleven at night. But for sheer *strength* he was the go to. . . . Not to mention that a lot of what I did, on both of our houses, was "fix" the "good enough for Sugar Grove" work ethic. . . . If corners are not square, for instance, some gap fixing needs to take place. Same for wall sockets that are recessed too deeply into the wall to allow a face plate to be screwed on. . . . etc.
The ONE job I insisted on a *complete* redo was my stairs. We did them one morning. When I came back the next day, walked in the door, the tilt made me nauseated, lol! Measuring with the level, there was a good one inch slope from side to side in the two foot width. My eye simply wouldn't accept that, although, interestingly, my foot did.
I had SO much fun designing those stairs in the winter, on graph paper, and learning about stair-building from carpentry books. I'm from the Thomas Jefferson school of steps: they're a damned waste of space. But necessary. And actually, despite my much smaller digs, are about 6 inches wider than the stairs at Monticello. The guide said I was the first person who asked about the stairs first thing, grin. . . . Jefferson's stairs are *monsters*. . . . You could kind of tell that HE never went up and down them. (or *seldom*)
Well, didna get the tomatoes in before the rain. DID get the wheelbarrow out and over by the river, and the bucket, and the trowel, and the leash (for dropping the bucket into the river/retrieving it). And got them *deeply* watered, 'cause they wuz lookin poorly. And if this wasn't a BOOMER, I'd prolly have gone up. And would be getting drownded about right now, lol! Mesocylclone/new cell, popped up almost with no warning. But really really loud.
Tis a joy that the Goobey actually enjoys thunderstorms. He didn't want to come in, so is out, watching.
Puddle, for a woman who claims to be low energy you seem to be able to get an amazing amount of work done! I am awed
every day at the physical things you do. I am with T.J. on stairs--but sometimes needed and if done properly even
a simple staircase can be beautiful.
But then, asking my first rheumatologist
about using them, he said "never saw a good use for any set of stairs!" (Add an unuttered, "Hmmph" here.) Good doc he was.
My dad, WWII vet was a member of the all volunteer army -- for the same reasons today's kids are: it paid for college. Or helped to do so. ROTC. When the war started he was a LT j.g. and off he went. His brothers, all college dropouts, got jobs at Hill Field, and didn't go.
Shirlee -- you're sweet, but over a lifetime of NOT being peppy, I've learned how to fake it pretty well, lol! I plan a whole lot, because as I told Michael a number of times: I don't *have* the energy to "re-do" stuff on a regular basis. . . . He did. And didn't mind doing things two or three or four times over until they worked. T.J.'s stairs are actually nice to look at, but they also look to have 10" risers -- I did mine with 8" risers, and by the time I did the final porch stairs, did them on 6" risers so I could carry groceries, tools, et al. up more easily. But the first set, I had to bend, 'cause I ran outta space, grin. Which bend then gave me a space to put in the porch post that kinda/sorta holds up that end of the loft. And space for a hall tree, since there was not enough space for a closet. Also being VERY careful to position the post over a floor joist, and not just anywhere on the floor.
Looking back, I *do* wish I'd planned closets. I miss them, and inserting them after the fact is a PITA.
Heh! I love this!! So much for those mad dogs Obama and Duncan, lol!
`````````````````
ATLANTA, GA -- Another eight states are gaining flexibility from the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday.
The Education Department has approved waivers for Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island. Eighteen other states and Washington, D.C., also applied for a waiver and could receive approval in coming weeks.
President Barack Obama's administration is granting waivers in exchange for promises from states to improve how they prepare and evaluate students. In all, 19 states have been given waivers so far.
"These states are getting more flexibility with federal funds and relief from NCLB's one-size-fits-all mandate in order to develop and implement locally tailored solutions to meet their unique educational challenges," Duncan said in a call with reporters.
He was in Connecticut to make the announcement.
The waivers are a stopgap measure until Congress rewrites the decade-old law, which has been up for renewal since 2007. Federal lawmakers agree the law needs to be changed, but they've bickered over how to do that.
The states that won waivers earlier this year are: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
No Child Left Behind requires all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014. The waivers throw out that fundamental requirement, provided they offer a viable alternative plan.
Under the deal, the states must show they will prepare children for college and careers, set new targets for improving achievement among all students, reward the best performing schools and focus help on the ones doing the worst.
Obama has called former President George W. Bush's most hyped domestic accomplishment an admirable but flawed effort that hurt students instead of helping them. Republicans have charged Obama is overreaching his authority by granting waivers and is imposing his vision for education on states.
States have been asking for relief from the law as the 2014 deadline neared.
"The waiver lets New York move away from NCLB requirements that were unproductive or unrealistic," state Education Commissioner John B. King said in a prepared statement. "We're making a new set of promises to our students. Now we have to live up to those promises."
Duncan said the Obama administration prefers that Congress fix the law but insisted students can't wait for that. In an election year in a divided Congress, that appears unlikely to happen.
President Obama presented Bob Dylan with the Medal of Freedom at the White House today, saying "There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music." It is the United States' highest civilian honor and is awarded for meritorious contributions to the national interest of the United States, to world peace, or to other significant endeavors.
And our Doc is gone.
died this evening at Baptist hospital in Winston-Salem where he had been for the last week.
Gonna be hard for Doc lover's all over. His audiences got to know him very personally.
I think NC'ers felt he BELONGED to them--and treasured him.
Damn! I'm so sorry Shirlee. There was a man who walked the walk/talked the talk. If ever a man earned his "Welcome home," Doc did.
Thanks, Puddle--my daughter is having a harder time--younger--but has lived here in the Triad area for nearly twenty years. She introduced me to Doc by giving me some CD's. Apparently until he cut his schedule back he came to GSO about every year.
He left us a treasure trove of music and good memories and just plain down to earth goodness.
Good night all--off to listen to some Doc!
Love to all of you--
good morning! beautiful day here - yesterday we had nasty storms here and I couldn't get online at all.
so sorry about Doc - may he rest in peace. what a gift he has been to so many. I'll bet that his send off will be spectacular!
New thread!!
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