Pain on Main Street
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5569821/site/newsweek/
THE BELL TOLLS: Rural Americans are bearing a disproportionate price
on the battlefield in Iraq. How their loss may play out this fall in
the presidential campaign
By Pat Wingert and Richard Wolffe
Newsweek
Aug. 9 issue - To the rest of the world, Matthew Sandri's death in
Fallujah looked like just another statistic from the war in Iraq. A
24-year-old Army medic, Specialist Sandri was killed in a rocket
attack on a staging area far from the front lines in March. But back
home in rural Pennsylvania, Sandri was far more than a name and a
rank. When it came time to hold a memorial service, there was only one
place big enough in the small town of Shamokin: the high-school gym.
So many arrived to pay their respects that officials asked police and
firefighters from neighboring towns to help control the traffic and
crowds. Two months later Shamokin (population: 7,800) was grieving
once more. Robert Scheetz, a 31-year-old Special Forces captain, died
when a Humvee exploded at his campsite in Iraq. "We watched these
children grow up," said Mayor James Yurick Jr. "Sandri lived across
the street from city hall. These deaths have been devastating to the
community."
The deaths have also raised sharp questions about the need for troops
to stay in Iraq and the priorities of the leaders who keep them there.
"A lot of people from this community died in World War II, but people
didn't think that was unjustified," says Shamokin School
Superintendent Ned Sodrick. "But what's the reason this time? Just to
make Iraq a democracy? If you look at the paper this week, you'll see
they have a new poll that says that Kerry is gaining in the state—and
I think this is the reason why."
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