What do you think?
We lived in Terre Haute, IN while my hubbie went to college there:
Fallen soldier's body will ride in Terre Haute parade
By Will Higgins
will.higgins@indystar.com
Terre Haute, like a lot of places, has an annual Veterans Day parade -- vintage convertibles, dignitaries, high school bands playing Sousa marches, soldiers from long-ago wars wearing bits of their old uniforms.
But this year's will be different.
Faces of the Fallen: See all Hoosiers that have died in the Afghanistan and Iraq
This year, there'll be a hearse, and in it a flag-draped coffin, and in the coffin the body of Army Sgt. Dale R. Griffin.
Griffin, a star athlete at Terre Haute South Vigo High School, was killed Oct. 27 in southern Afghanistan when a roadside bomb detonated under the vehicle he rode in. He was 29.
Today, he'll ride directly behind the Terre Haute Police Department color guard, near the front of the parade.
The arrangement -- a parade transformed into a funeral procession -- is at least unusual and possibly unique. It also will serve as a powerful reminder of war's reality and the price paid by some veterans.
And veterans here think that it could revitalize Veterans Day, which they say too often is more closely associated with mall sales than military sacrifice.
But this year, with the inclusion of Griffin, a parade that typically draws only dozens is expected to be witnessed -- and reflected upon -- by thousands.
"I believe Terre Haute and the entire country take their freedom for granted," said Cliff Stephens, a Vietnam vet and VFW member, "and this should wake them up."
Including Griffin's casket in the parade was not the veterans' idea. It was the slain soldier's parents'.
The Griffins are prominent in Terre Haute -- they run a financial planning firm and are active in their church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Gene Griffin once served as bishop.
Through a friend, Superior Court Judge Christopher A. Newton, the Griffins suggested to parade organizers that their son's body ride in the parade.
The organizers leapt at the idea. "No one argued against it," said Henry Shattuck, a member of the American Legion, the VFW and the Marine Corps League, and a Vietnam veteran.
Said Andy Whitt, the VFW commander: "It will make (the parade) less festive, but it's the right thing to do."
The Griffins worried they'd be viewed as grandstanders. They declined to ride in the parade, and they rejected as over-the-top the suggestion of a horse-drawn caisson for their son, instead insisting on a garden-variety hearse.
"But our son is not just ours," said Gene Griffin. "He's a fallen hero, and as much this community's as ours."
They were bolstered by a stack of mail "four inches thick" from well-wishers thanking them for their decision earlier to allow reporters to witness their son's remains being carried from a military cargo plane at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
His was one of 18 bodies being returned to the U.S. from Afghanistan, but the Griffins were the only family that allowed their loved one's flag-draped casket to be photographed.
It was a tough call for the Griffins. "You're reeling, you want protection; it's not a time you want to open up," said Dona Griffin, Dale's mother. "But we prayed and decided that America needs a face on this."
The moment was magnified by the unexpected presence at the airfield of President Barack Obama.
The photo of Obama saluting Griffin's casket "is what made the story stick in peoples' minds, and I hope I get the chance to thank (the Griffins) for their courage," said Gregg Keesling, Indianapolis, whose son, Chancellor, committed suicide last summer while serving in Iraq.
Like the Griffins, the Keeslings did not shy from the publicity that came with their son's death. They were the first Indiana family to allow reporters to cover their soldier's casket arriving in Indianapolis.
"I wanted to remind people we are still in the midst of two wars," Gregg Keesling said. "People do forget."
Veterans Day comes as the war in Afghanistan hovers at a crossroads. Fifty-five Americans were killed there last month, making October the bloodiest month for U.S. troops there since the war began in 2001. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander, has said he needs 40,000 additional troops. Obama is weighing what to do.
The Griffins hope today's parade will lead to a redoubling of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, including the asked-for troop surge.
Dona Griffin is the daughter of a Marine officer who fought in Vietnam. "I remember the frustration he expressed," she said.
Said her husband: "Dale had the attitude: 'If you want to win the fight, you have to fight to win.' "
But flag-draped caskets affect people differently. Today's parade "could generate support" for a U.S. victory in Afghanistan, said Kathleen Gilbert, an Indiana University associate professor of applied health science who specializes in family bereavement. "But people could also use it as a tool to say just the opposite" and support a U.S. withdrawal.
Keesling, for example, opposes both wars.
"When it comes to the death of soldiers," Gilbert said, "people tend to one extreme or the other."
Shattuck has no idea which interpretation will carry the day. "The way I see it," he said, "this is about one thing: supreme sacrifice."
After the parade, Griffin's body will be taken to Terre Haute South Vigo High School. There, his funeral will begin at 2 p.m.
Fallen soldier's body will ride in Terre Haute parade
By Will Higgins
will.higgins@indystar.com
Terre Haute, like a lot of places, has an annual Veterans Day parade -- vintage convertibles, dignitaries, high school bands playing Sousa marches, soldiers from long-ago wars wearing bits of their old uniforms.
But this year's will be different.
Faces of the Fallen: See all Hoosiers that have died in the Afghanistan and Iraq
This year, there'll be a hearse, and in it a flag-draped coffin, and in the coffin the body of Army Sgt. Dale R. Griffin.
Griffin, a star athlete at Terre Haute South Vigo High School, was killed Oct. 27 in southern Afghanistan when a roadside bomb detonated under the vehicle he rode in. He was 29.
Today, he'll ride directly behind the Terre Haute Police Department color guard, near the front of the parade.
The arrangement -- a parade transformed into a funeral procession -- is at least unusual and possibly unique. It also will serve as a powerful reminder of war's reality and the price paid by some veterans.
And veterans here think that it could revitalize Veterans Day, which they say too often is more closely associated with mall sales than military sacrifice.
But this year, with the inclusion of Griffin, a parade that typically draws only dozens is expected to be witnessed -- and reflected upon -- by thousands.
"I believe Terre Haute and the entire country take their freedom for granted," said Cliff Stephens, a Vietnam vet and VFW member, "and this should wake them up."
Including Griffin's casket in the parade was not the veterans' idea. It was the slain soldier's parents'.
The Griffins are prominent in Terre Haute -- they run a financial planning firm and are active in their church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Gene Griffin once served as bishop.
Through a friend, Superior Court Judge Christopher A. Newton, the Griffins suggested to parade organizers that their son's body ride in the parade.
The organizers leapt at the idea. "No one argued against it," said Henry Shattuck, a member of the American Legion, the VFW and the Marine Corps League, and a Vietnam veteran.
Said Andy Whitt, the VFW commander: "It will make (the parade) less festive, but it's the right thing to do."
The Griffins worried they'd be viewed as grandstanders. They declined to ride in the parade, and they rejected as over-the-top the suggestion of a horse-drawn caisson for their son, instead insisting on a garden-variety hearse.
"But our son is not just ours," said Gene Griffin. "He's a fallen hero, and as much this community's as ours."
They were bolstered by a stack of mail "four inches thick" from well-wishers thanking them for their decision earlier to allow reporters to witness their son's remains being carried from a military cargo plane at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
His was one of 18 bodies being returned to the U.S. from Afghanistan, but the Griffins were the only family that allowed their loved one's flag-draped casket to be photographed.
It was a tough call for the Griffins. "You're reeling, you want protection; it's not a time you want to open up," said Dona Griffin, Dale's mother. "But we prayed and decided that America needs a face on this."
The moment was magnified by the unexpected presence at the airfield of President Barack Obama.
The photo of Obama saluting Griffin's casket "is what made the story stick in peoples' minds, and I hope I get the chance to thank (the Griffins) for their courage," said Gregg Keesling, Indianapolis, whose son, Chancellor, committed suicide last summer while serving in Iraq.
Like the Griffins, the Keeslings did not shy from the publicity that came with their son's death. They were the first Indiana family to allow reporters to cover their soldier's casket arriving in Indianapolis.
"I wanted to remind people we are still in the midst of two wars," Gregg Keesling said. "People do forget."
Veterans Day comes as the war in Afghanistan hovers at a crossroads. Fifty-five Americans were killed there last month, making October the bloodiest month for U.S. troops there since the war began in 2001. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander, has said he needs 40,000 additional troops. Obama is weighing what to do.
The Griffins hope today's parade will lead to a redoubling of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, including the asked-for troop surge.
Dona Griffin is the daughter of a Marine officer who fought in Vietnam. "I remember the frustration he expressed," she said.
Said her husband: "Dale had the attitude: 'If you want to win the fight, you have to fight to win.' "
But flag-draped caskets affect people differently. Today's parade "could generate support" for a U.S. victory in Afghanistan, said Kathleen Gilbert, an Indiana University associate professor of applied health science who specializes in family bereavement. "But people could also use it as a tool to say just the opposite" and support a U.S. withdrawal.
Keesling, for example, opposes both wars.
"When it comes to the death of soldiers," Gilbert said, "people tend to one extreme or the other."
Shattuck has no idea which interpretation will carry the day. "The way I see it," he said, "this is about one thing: supreme sacrifice."
After the parade, Griffin's body will be taken to Terre Haute South Vigo High School. There, his funeral will begin at 2 p.m.
