| Show A Soldiers Soldier's Field One student honoring a soldier who died fighting te terrorism Kathy Larson Contributing Writer On the afternoon of July 2 2004 I went to the soccer field at Tooele High School I wanted to observe the placing of 1085 flags in memory of our fallen soldiers soldiers soldiers sol sol- sol sol- diers in the war against ter ter- ter- ter As I approached the field I observed soldiers Boy Scouts Girl Scouts Veterans of Foreign Wars and others carrying flags to their display position I asked if anyone could help and before I knew it I was carrying my first fust flag Those hose who'd volunteered volunteered volunteered volun volun- to carry flags followed followed followed fol fol- fol- fol lowed in a procession one going right one left as the soldiers soldier's names were read off one by one We the volunteers volunteers volunteers vol vol- vol- vol proceeded down the rows placing our flags With heavy hearts we proceeded proceeded proceeded pro pro- back to the front to receive another flag This continued for almost three hours Each flag had a yellow ribbon attached and ana that yellow ribbon had a soldiers soldier's soldiers soldier's soldiers soldier's sol sol- sol sol- diers dier's name rank age hometown when he or she died and where I heard people complaining complain complain- ing of the heat but I couldn't could could- nt feel it My heart was aching and the tears would not stop streaming down my face All I could think of was too too many flags representing too many lives x r ri l. l r c o r J Jr 5 r r c c o jj f Tooele High School placed 1085 flags on their soccer field on July 2 2004 to honor our soldiers lost for our freedom They were selling the flags for the soldiers soldier's charity chari chari- ty fund so my husband and andI I decided to purchase one On July 5 2004 we went back to the field for the fourth time but this was to receive the flag wed we'd pur pur- chased The yellow ribbon had the name of a very young soldier it read In honor of Private 1st Class Ryan E. E Reed Age 20 Colorado Springs CO Died 4 29 near Baghdad fig fighting for you and me When my husband and I got home I told him how wonderful it would be if we could somehow find the family of Ryan and send them this yellow ribbon and anda a picture of the field where it flew in his honor he agreed and that was my goal Tuesday morning I started started started start start- ed trying to find Private Ryan E. E Reeds Reed's family I Iwas Iwas Iwas was not successful with thelast the thelast thelast last name of Reed in Colorado Springs so I went to the internet and entered his name I could not believe what I found there was a memorial page dedicated dedicated dedicated dedi dedi- to him where anyone could extend their l thy to the family In reading through his page I found one from a alady alady alady lady in Layton Utah by the name of Gail Williams- Williams who stated that she is good friends with Ryans Ryan's grandmother Gail stated it was Ryans Ryan's grandmother grandmother grandmother grand grand- mother who had haa called her herto herto herto to inform her of Ryans Ryan's death She also stated that she used to sit baby-sit Ryan when he was young She had given her full name and so I attempted to find her number and was successful I called her introduced See Soldier continued on page 4 Soldier continued from front myself and explained why I Iwas Iwas Iwas was calling She talked to tome tome tome me about Ryan and told me that his mother had abandoned abandoned abandoned aban aban- him at an early age leaving his father and grandparents to raised him He had been stationed in Germany when he received his orders to go into Iraq Ryan then flew home on leave and married his sweetheart Four months later his vehicle was in a convoy and was hit by a suicide bomber all eight soldiers were killed She told me that his grandmother would just love to get his ribbon She told me she lived in Florida and gave me her name and phone number I took a break to get the tears under control before calling Ryans Ryan's grandmother er Kathleen A. A Brown I I knew this was the right thing that I was doing I then called Kathleen told her who I was how I got her number and the reason for my call This was one special lady I was talking to She said that she could not believe anyone anyone any any- one would go put out of their way to send a ribbon to the family much less try to find the the family fE She told me about Ryans Ryan's full military military military mili mili- tary funeral and how many hundreds attended She insisted she get my name address and phone number and she sai said that she hadan had hadan hadan an extra copy of the Gazette with the funeral coverage that she wanted to send me I told her I would be honored to receive a copy Kathleen told me that Ryans Ryan's father would be so happy to get this ribbon and she would make sure that he got it Before we ended our conversation I felt I had made a new best friend She thanked me so much and started crying and when we said our good-byes good she said I I love you and hung up the phone I 1 copied two sets of the pictures I had taken one for Kathleen and one for Ryans Ryan's father wrote her a letter and enclosed all with a very carefully wrapped Yellow Ribbon I bearing the name of one very young brave soldier m in a box and all were in the mail Tuesday afternoon |
