Six from suburbs who made 'ultimate sacrifice' in 2009
U.S. Army Pfc. Michael Pearson personifies the vagaries - and the horrors - of war in the 21st century.
The 22-year-old Bolingbrook soldier was one of 13 people killed in the Nov. 5 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. A disgruntled Army psychiatrist is accused of the rampage, which also left 32 people injured.
Because he died on American soil, Pearson's name doesn't appear on the state's official casualties of war list.
Still, the West and Northwest suburbs mourned the loss of Pearson and five other servicemen in 2009, roughly the same number as the previous year.
"As long as there's a war going on or conflict, there's a price that has to be paid," said Tom Mouhelis, a retired veteran who serves on the not-for-profit group that oversees a memorial honoring DuPage County troops who died fighting the war on terror. "Unfortunately, there are young men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice."
One of them was Army Staff Sgt. Jeremy Bessa of Woodridge, killed Feb. 20 in Afghanistan when his military vehicle was hit by an explosive and came under small firearms attack. He was 26 years old.
When soldiers from the Illinois National Guard's Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry returned this summer to Woodstock after a deployment in Afghanistan, they remembered four fallen comrades they lost months earlier.
Sgt. Robert M. Weinger, 24, of Round Lake Beach was one of three Delta Company soldiers to die March 15 after their vehicle encountered a roadside bomb. Sgt. Christopher Abeyta, 23, of Midlothian, and Spc. Norman Cain III, 22, of Mount Morris also were killed by the bomb.
Then on May 10, Delta Company Sgt. Lukasz D. Saczek died as a result of a noncombat-related injury in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. The 23-year-old Lake in the Hills soldier was on his first tour of duty, providing security to groups helping rebuild the province on the far eastern side of Afghanistan that borders Pakistan.
The war on terror claimed the life of another suburban soldier in September when Army Pfc. Matthew Martinek died from injuries sustained in battle.
Martinek, a 20-year-old Bartlett High School graduate, died Sept. 11, one week after the vehicle he was riding in was struck by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Shortly after the bomb detonated, the vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
During his funeral, family members remembered Martinek as a kind and fun-loving young man who was fiercely devoted to his family and his country.
But Martinek wasn't the final suburban casualty of the year. November brought the shock of the Fort Hood shootings and the death of a Crystal Lake soldier in Afghanistan, just weeks before he was due to come home on leave.
Sgt. Jason A. McLeod, 22, died Nov. 23 after his unit was attacked with mortar fire near Pashmul, Afghanistan. He was a mechanic who worked on Humvees and was assigned to the 704th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, out of Fort Carson, Colo.
On Dec. 4, more than 200 people filled the chapel at a Crystal Lake funeral home to say goodbye to the fallen soldier. Gov. Pat Quinn said during the service that the entire state "has to pause and thank God for the life of Sgt. Jason McLeod."
According to the state's most recent casualty list, 28 members of the armed forces from Illinois were killed in 2009 in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Anytime we put on the uniform," said Mike Chrisman, spokesman for the Illinois Army National Guard, "we're all making sacrifices."
Terry Owens, president of the DuPage Veterans Memorial Inc., said one of the most distressing things he has to do is read the casualty lists e-mailed almost daily by the U.S. Department of Defense.
"Each time I open up one, my heart is in my throat," he said. "I say to myself, 'Oh God, I hope this isn't anybody from the community.'"