She Wants Things He Carried

[unhappycamper]

She Wants Things He Carried
Virginian-Pilot | By Kate Wiltrout | December 01, 2007

Two months after burying her husband, Kristin Rathjen summoned the courage to go through the boxes.

Seven identical black footlockers, sent from Kirkuk, Iraq, held the accumulations of Cpl. Josh Harmon's year at Forward Operating Base Warrior. A sheaf of papers, 24 pages long, painstakingly catalogued the Army medic's possessions.

"2 ea., packages, food, blue in color, inscribed Starkist Tuna."

"75 ea., photos, personal."

"Paper, document, inscribed Certificate of Marriage."

Harmon, an Ohio native, was one of 14 soldiers killed in a Blackhawk helicopter that crashed in northern Iraq on Aug. 22. Hours later, in Norfolk, Army officers informed Rathjen that she was a widow.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,157357,00.html

[MADem]

1. How horrible...what bastards!!!!!

She found the plastic footlocker, empty, in the backyard.

Rathjen reported the burglary to the police. She doesn't know who is responsible, but thinks the stuff was stolen Nov. 17, when her 18-year-old brother threw a party while the rest of the family was out of town.

Some things, such as her husband's copy of the marriage certificate, would have no value to anyone but her. Other items could have been pawned for a few bucks. That included Harmon's computer hard drive, a KA-BAR knife, DVDs of the Dave Chappelle Show, Grey's Anatomy, Blue Collar Comedy; Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer and Tim McGraw CDs.

She hopes the thieves didn't know they were taking the possessions of a slain soldier.

"For me to not completely lose all faith in the goodness of people, I have to think they didn't know," Rathjen said.

She will take it all back, no questions asked.

Rathjen acknowledges that police are busy with bigger crimes but is bothered that no one from the Norfolk Police Department has followed up on the case.