All-American Week returns as 82nd mourns

[unhappycamper]

Division lost 87 paratroopers in '07
Son of Weldon Perkins, above, died in Iraq


All-American Week returns as 82nd mourns
By Kevin Maurer - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday May 21, 2008 21:32:52 EDT

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The return of the steady tromp of 16,000 jogging soldiers this week means the rhythm of life is right again at Fort Bragg, home to the Army’s storied 82nd Airborne Division.

All-American Week is back at the base, a renewal of the 82nd’s traditional homecoming that was canceled last year because the entire division was fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The celebration also provides a balm this year, which follows a particularly tough one for the division — the 82nd lost 87 paratroopers in 2007. About 150 members of “Gold Star” families, relatives of those killed, are to join President Bush on Thursday for the division’s review ceremony and a rededication of a growing granite memorial to the 82nd’s fallen.

Among those to be remembered is Andrew Perkins, a 27-year-old sergeant whose father clings to the stories of his son’s heroism in Samarra, north of Baghdad. How he grabbed the fire extinguisher. How he rushed into the explosion three times. How the equipment was melting in his hands before a second blast hit.

“I’d go to Samarra if I could just to stand on the same ground,” Weldon Perkins said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_allamerican_bragg_052108/

[Dammit Ann]

1. ENOUGH OF THIS BULLSHIT WAR!

God help them all.

[old mark]

2. Thanks again for posting this.

Memorial day will be special this year. We need to bring everyone home.

mark
1stBn 504PIR 82d Abn Div 1969-1971 Sp4

[CRK7376]

3. Shrub was here today...

Thank goodness I was nowhere near Pike Field....