 |
In Memoriam
|
 |
LCpl.
Lance Graham
(reprinted from
MySanAntonio.com, July 15, 2005)
Marines' sacrifices recognized
Scott Huddleston Express-News Staff Writer
Nary a day passes, not even a minute, when he
doesn't think about them.
Marine Sgt. Randy Watkins was with Lance Graham
and Aaron Cepeda, two other San Antonio Marines, when a suicide bomber attacked their
platoon May 7 in Anbar Province.
Graham and Cepeda didn't survive. Watkins did, and
wants to return to Iraq once he recovers from a gunshot wound to the shoulder and nerve
damage.
"I want to go back so badly, I'm losing my
mind being around here," said Watkins, 24, of San Antonio.
Watkins' father, Danny Watkins of Atlanta, said he
felt proud but tense, reliving the past two months, as his son and five other Marines
wounded in Iraq received Purple Heart medals Friday at Brooke Army Medical Center. He said
he believes in the cause behind his son's sacrifice.
"He wants to go back, and I fully support
that decision," Danny Watkins said.
Lately, the young Marine has visited with Graham's
father, Joseph Graham, answering questions about the attack, and in turn has received
assurances from Graham. Watkins and Lance Graham had planned to live together in San
Marcos and attend Texas State University.
"I want Randy to know that there was nothing
he did to cause my son's death," Joseph Graham said.
Also receiving the Purple Heart from 4th Marine
Division commander Maj. Gen. Douglas V. O'Dell Jr. were: Sgt. Alejandro Del Rio, a
lifelong San Antonian; Cpl. Clinton Barkley, 24, a local transplant from Dallas-Fort
Worth; Lance Cpl. Pedro Castillo, 28, a Harlingen native now living here; Cpl. Robert
Childress, 24, a San Antonian originally from San Marcos; and Lance Cpl. Isaias Hernandez,
20, of Bristol, Conn.
Having lost both legs to amputation, Del Rio said
he thinks of his wife and 4-year-old daughter and of his fellow Marines in Iraq as he
winces through the pain, learning to walk again.
"It's depressing, but you've got to move on.
You can't dwell on the past," said Del Rio, wounded April 4 by an anti-tank mine.
At just 23, he hardly needs to close his eyes to
recall growing up on the Southeast Side, playing soccer at Highlands High School and
spending summers in and around the pool.
"I used to be a good swimmer. Now it's pretty
hard," he said.
Yet Del Rio is still swimming. It's part of his
rehabilitation since getting his prostheses 10 days ago.
Despite questions about the war, last week's
terrorist attacks in London that left at least 54 people dead and Wednesday's suicide car
bombing in Baghdad that killed at least 24 Iraqi children are, for Del Rio, added
justification of the U.S. presence in Iraq.
"They're all scum. They like to prey on the
weak," he said of insurgents there.
Del Rio plans to get a degree in computer science,
and only regrets that he may never be able to return to Iraq.
"I wish I was back out there," he said.
Watkins has been overcome with similar feelings
when he has visited the families of his two comrades who were killed.
He said when he gazes at Cepeda's son, Aaron Jr.,
5, and baby daughter Journee, now 18 months old, he thinks about their 22-year-old father
who died in Iraq even though he could have had a promising civilian medical career in
South Texas.
"Seeing his little girl was the hardest thing
in the world," Watkins said. "She looks just like him."
For Joseph Graham, a San Antonio motorcycle police
officer grieving the loss of his 26-year-old son, the bond he's developed with Watkins
gives him closure, and a sense of hope.
"It's like I haven't totally lost everything,
because I can stay in touch with Randy," he said.