FORT DRUM - For a change, Patrick Mooney didn't feel alone Friday as he watched the small cadre of soldiers and veterans lay a memorial wreath honoring the 10th Mountain Division's war dead.
Mooney joined more than 60 other relatives of soldiers killed fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq for a special ceremony at Fort Drum's new Memorial Park. More than 500 soldiers, military officials and other guests attended.
“This puts you in a world emotionally where you aren't alone,” said Mooney, whose 28-year-old son, 1st Lt. Adam Mooney, died along with his co-pilot when their helicopter crashed into the Tigris River in Iraq on Jan. 25, 2004.
“Quite often, when you're in a group ... no one has any ties to this emotional world you live in. They simply can't share the loss, or the pride. You are a loner there. But in this group you're not,” said Mooney, who came from Cambridge, Md. “You realize when you become a Gold Star parent, it transcends not just this war but all wars.”
Adam Mooney's family held out hope for his survival until his body was recovered three weeks after the crash. “Bad memories” have made it impossible for Patrick Mooney to follow developments in the disappearance of two 10th Mountain Division soldiers believed captured May 12 by insurgents in Iraq. The body of a third missing soldier was found in the Euphrates River Wednesday.
Robert Selheim was visiting the northern New York Army post for the first time. His son, Spc. Robert J. Cook, 24, was one of eight Fort Drum soldiers killed in Afghanistan in January 2004 when a weapons cache exploded.
Selheim, of Sun Prairie, Wisc., said he wanted to connect with other families - and he did, meeting for the first time the parents of Staff Sgt. Shawn Clemens, one of the other soldiers killed with his son.
“We came here to find some comfort. Maybe give us some peace and finality. It helps to connect and meet the parents of those who were serving with our son,” Selheim said.
The ceremony also was the first official event for the new Memorial Park, which sits across the road from the division headquarters at the northern New York post.
The centerpiece of the park is the 30-foot tall “Military Mountaineers” statute, which was dedicated in 1991 but previously stood in an outlying area of the post. The statute shows a World War II soldier giving a helping hand to a modern-era soldier as they scale a mountain.
In a semi-ring around the statute is a “Heroes Walk” with a bronze plaque atop a 3-foot-high concrete pedestal for each of the division's deployments since its reactivation in 1986. Eventually, the division's individual units will move all of their memorials and statutes to the park.
“This park recognizes the sacrifices of the 10th Mountain Division soldiers who given their lives for us. It will be a place we meet frequently to remember them and to honor future sacrifices,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, the division's commander.
Since fighting began in 2003, 139 Fort Drum soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Oates spoke only briefly, calling on his troops to “rededicate ourselves to take up where they left off and take our place on the perimeter to defend our country.
“There is no way we can repay their sacrifice, but it is right and just to honor and remember them,” Oates said.
The ceremony began with a traditional wreath laying at the base of the statute. Howard Seball, an original 10th Mountain Division infantryman who fought in Italy during World War II was one of five soldiers who carried the red-and-white carnation wreath.
“I still think about some of the fellas who were killed. Setting aside a day for them is just a way to show them they didn't die in vain, and looking around today, I can see they didn't,” said Seball, 82, of Phoenecia, N.Y., who was one of eight World War II vets at the ceremony.
As part of the day's events, the post was hosting a special screening of a new PBS documentary, “The Last Ridge,” which retells the division's storied history from its inception as an elite alpine fighting force in World War II. The documentary will debut May 27.
The 10th Mountain Division, now a quick-strike light infantry, first made its mark on American military history during World War II at the battle of Riva Ridge in northern Italy. In that battle, soldiers scaled a sheer 1,500-foot cliff under cover of darkness to rout the Nazis and help liberate Italy.
In 1993, they led the daring rescue of the ambushed Army Rangers in Mogadishu - a feat chronicled in the best-selling book and movie, “Black Hawk Down.”
With one brigade in Iraq, and another just coming home from Afghanistan, the 10th has been the Army's most deployed division over the last two decades.
AP-ES-05-25-07 1523EDT
“This puts you in a world emotionally where you aren't alone,” said Mooney, whose 28-year-old son, 1st Lt. Adam Mooney, died along with his co-pilot when their helicopter crashed into the Tigris River in Iraq on Jan. 25, 2004.
“Quite often, when you're in a group ... no one has any ties to this emotional world you live in. They simply can't share the loss, or the pride. You are a loner there. But in this group you're not,” said Mooney, who came from Cambridge, Md. “You realize when you become a Gold Star parent, it transcends not just this war but all wars.”
Adam Mooney's family held out hope for his survival until his body was recovered three weeks after the crash. “Bad memories” have made it impossible for Patrick Mooney to follow developments in the disappearance of two 10th Mountain Division soldiers believed captured May 12 by insurgents in Iraq. The body of a third missing soldier was found in the Euphrates River Wednesday.
Robert Selheim was visiting the northern New York Army post for the first time. His son, Spc. Robert J. Cook, 24, was one of eight Fort Drum soldiers killed in Afghanistan in January 2004 when a weapons cache exploded.
Selheim, of Sun Prairie, Wisc., said he wanted to connect with other families - and he did, meeting for the first time the parents of Staff Sgt. Shawn Clemens, one of the other soldiers killed with his son.
“We came here to find some comfort. Maybe give us some peace and finality. It helps to connect and meet the parents of those who were serving with our son,” Selheim said.
The ceremony also was the first official event for the new Memorial Park, which sits across the road from the division headquarters at the northern New York post.
The centerpiece of the park is the 30-foot tall “Military Mountaineers” statute, which was dedicated in 1991 but previously stood in an outlying area of the post. The statute shows a World War II soldier giving a helping hand to a modern-era soldier as they scale a mountain.
In a semi-ring around the statute is a “Heroes Walk” with a bronze plaque atop a 3-foot-high concrete pedestal for each of the division's deployments since its reactivation in 1986. Eventually, the division's individual units will move all of their memorials and statutes to the park.
“This park recognizes the sacrifices of the 10th Mountain Division soldiers who given their lives for us. It will be a place we meet frequently to remember them and to honor future sacrifices,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, the division's commander.
Since fighting began in 2003, 139 Fort Drum soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Oates spoke only briefly, calling on his troops to “rededicate ourselves to take up where they left off and take our place on the perimeter to defend our country.
“There is no way we can repay their sacrifice, but it is right and just to honor and remember them,” Oates said.
The ceremony began with a traditional wreath laying at the base of the statute. Howard Seball, an original 10th Mountain Division infantryman who fought in Italy during World War II was one of five soldiers who carried the red-and-white carnation wreath.
“I still think about some of the fellas who were killed. Setting aside a day for them is just a way to show them they didn't die in vain, and looking around today, I can see they didn't,” said Seball, 82, of Phoenecia, N.Y., who was one of eight World War II vets at the ceremony.
As part of the day's events, the post was hosting a special screening of a new PBS documentary, “The Last Ridge,” which retells the division's storied history from its inception as an elite alpine fighting force in World War II. The documentary will debut May 27.
The 10th Mountain Division, now a quick-strike light infantry, first made its mark on American military history during World War II at the battle of Riva Ridge in northern Italy. In that battle, soldiers scaled a sheer 1,500-foot cliff under cover of darkness to rout the Nazis and help liberate Italy.
In 1993, they led the daring rescue of the ambushed Army Rangers in Mogadishu - a feat chronicled in the best-selling book and movie, “Black Hawk Down.”
With one brigade in Iraq, and another just coming home from Afghanistan, the 10th has been the Army's most deployed division over the last two decades.
AP-ES-05-25-07 1523EDT
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A Simple Correction wrote on May 26, 2007 9:46 PM: