Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Burials, memorials and questions

Ryan Zorn died last week serving in Iraq (November 16th). Yesterday funeral services were held. The Gillette News-Record notes that over 300 mourners attended the service including Wyoming's Governor Dave Freudenthal and US Senator Mike Enzi. Joshua Wolfson (Casper Star-Tribune) reports that JoAnn Zorn was presented with her son's Bronze Star and quotes his father Myorn Zorn stating, "He was proud of what he did, and he died doing what he believed in." Last week Tony Raap (Gillette News-Record) spoke with JoAnn and Myron Zorn about their son:

Myron talked to Ryan four days before he died. It was a short conversation, lasting only five minutes. Ryan was in a good mood. He told his father everything was going well.
At the end, Ryan said: "Dad, I have to go eat breakfast."
Those were the last words he heard him say.
JoAnn recalled talking to Ryan this past summer, when he was on leave. An avid explorer, Ryan traveled to Paris and called his parents from the Eiffel Tower. He also visited Luxembourg to see where the Battle of the Bulge, a pivotal World War II offensive, was waged.
Ryan also started an adopt-a-soldier program after noticing several of his fellow servicemen never received any mail from home. It started small, but soon grew to the point where Zorn could hardly squeeze into his bunk because his barrack space was filled with presents.

Kevin Woster (Rapid City Journal) reports of yesterday's funeral, "JoAnn Zorn stood surrounded by family and friends, pressing a folded U.S. flag to her chest as she watched an Army honor guard carry her son’s casket slowly toward the seemingly endless rows of white crosses." Meanwhile in Iraq today there will be a memorial service for another service members. Lily Gordon (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer) reports that Briand T. Williams, who died Sunday when his unit came under fire in Iraq, will be remembered in a ceremony. Lindsey Connell (WALB) reports the 25-year-old resident of Sparks Georgia was on his fourth overseas deployment and that he joined the military in 2002. Also coming under fire in Iraq this month was Staff Sgt Amy Tirador. Scott Fontaine (News Tribune) reports that Colleen Murphy, her mother, explains "that her 29-year-old daughter was shot execution-style in the back of the head" while on base and:


Murphy also has enlisted the support of the offices of Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both New York Democrats.
"They're behind us 100 percent," Murphy said.
"We'll find the person or persons that did this, and we'll find out the complete truth."
Tirador's father, Gerard Seyboth, could not be reached by The News Tribune. But he told WRGB-TV in Albany, N.Y., that his daughter’s work as an interrogator made her a "high-profile target."

The above three service members are among the 4365 US troops who have died in Iraq since the start of the Iraq War.

The following community sites updated last night:


Cedric's Big Mix
Princess Di died for his sins
9 hours ago

The Daily Jot
THIS JUST IN! HE'S A MORON!
9 hours ago

Thomas Friedman is a Great Man
Somerby and the awful 7th Heaven
10 hours ago

Mikey Likes It!
Mammograms, V
10 hours ago

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude
hawaii oh-no
10 hours ago

Oh Boy It Never Ends
The awful Democracy Now!
10 hours ago

And Elaine's "TV show you loathe," Ruth's "Perfect Strangers," Marcia's "The Office," Trina's "Worst TV show ," Ann's "Download Carly's new album for just $5.00" and Kat's "24 -- ugh." And they were doing (except for Wally and Cedric who did their joint humor post) the theme of TV show you can't stand. They're planning to blog tonight. On Thursday?

Mike generally blogs on Thanksgiving. That's it unless I do an Iraq snapshot. I will do one if there's some serious, can't-wait news out of Iraq. We did one last year because the SOFA passed the Parliament on Thanksgiving. The year before we didn't. I will judge by how important the news is and whether I think it's important enough to justify everyone interrupting their holiday (because if I do one, everyone's already said they'll do some sort of a post). I will do at least two entries tomorrow, maybe three. At some point during the next few days, Kat will do her latest album review. On Friday, we'll have a snapshot and be on normal schedule. Friday morning the gina & krista round-robin will go out as usual. The only difference this week community wide is that Hilda's Mix went out early due to the holiday and that there may not be a snaphot tomorrow (and if there isn't one, Mike and I are the only ones planning to put anything new online in the community).

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

















thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends
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