Lt. Ryan McGlothlin, honored yesterday, was killed in Iraq on Nov. 16, 2005. View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Service honors the fallen

A Day of Remembrance: Families, friends honor fallen soldiers at service

Date published: 5/22/2006

By EDIE GROSS

WASHINGTON--They wore buttons, T-shirts and bracelets emblazoned with the names and faces of loved ones lost.

Pfc. Brandon Davis, My Hero

Lance Cpl. Kyle Crowley

Spc. Armando Hernandez

Daddy

They dabbed at their eyes with worn bits of tissue, and wrapped their arms around each other in solidarity.

They came from as far away as American Samoa and as close as Virginia and Maryland.

More than 3,000 family and friends of fallen soldiers gathered yesterday near the Washington Monument to honor the sacrifices of America's military.

The event, billed as "A Time of Remembrance," featured descendants of veterans from every American conflict back to the Revolutionary War.

But the focus was largely on the men and women killed in the most recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq--and those they left behind.

"The woman next to me, I started to get teary-eyed and she put her arm around me," said Don McGlothlin of Lebanon, Va., whose youngest son, Ryan, was killed in Iraq in November. "Her son died in the first week of the war. It makes a difference that other people know the depths of your feelings."

McGlothlin had stopped in Fredericksburg on Saturday on his way to the event to visit his aunt and meet Marine Warrant Officer Mike Fay, an artist who took pictures and recorded audio of 1st Lt. Ryan McGlothlin two days before he died.

Fay showed the elder McGlothlin photographs of his son's unit in the days leading up to the Nov. 16 fire fight in Ubaydi that killed the 26-year-old and four of his fellow Marines.

Several of the photos included pictures of Ryan McGlothlin on the ground after he'd been shot, surrounded by other Marines trying to save him.

"He was never alone, the whole time," Fay said quietly.

Confronting what happened and attending events like the one held in D.C. are all part of the healing process, said McGlothlin.

"It's a sadness that stalks you," he said. "You have to live through it before you can explain it. It's like somebody has unplugged some part of your body."

His son was two years into a doctoral program in chemistry at Stanford when he left school to join the Marines.

The family of National Guardsman Spc. Nicholas "Nick" Mason is inviting the community to a Memorial Day service at their King George home next Monday. Mason, 20, was serving near Mosul with the 276th Engineer Battalion when he was killed after a suicide bomber entered his mess tent in December 2004. Monday's service will include the dedication of two flag poles and plaques, donated by King George High School for placement at the family's memorial site for Mason. The family also will dedicate an Army Engineering Castle they built to Mason, fellow Army Spc. David Ruhren--who died in the same bombing--and all members off the Army National Guard's 229th and 276th Engineering Battalions. The castle also stands at the memorial site. The dedication ceremony will take place from 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. From 3 p.m. to 3:01 p.m., the family will recognize the National Moment of Remembrance. To reach the Mason memorial site, take State Route 3 east into King George, then turn left on State Route 610 (Indiantown Road). Go right onto State Route 688 (Hickory Lane) and then take the third driveway on the left (9337 Hickory Lane). Follow the drive as it forks to the right and then turn left under the power lines. A flag marks the entrance to Mason's memorial. --Edie Gross

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Date published: 5/22/2006