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Memorials for area troops bigger these days

May-28-2007 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune

With each announcement from the Pentagon that another Fort Lewis soldier has been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, it’s usually just a few hours before a portrait of the life lost begins to emerge.

On the Internet, and in the 24-hour news cycle, stories come quickly about young men and women with hopes and dreams and people who loved them.

In past wars, a soldier’s death usually was reported in a two- or three-sentence news item played on an inside page in the local newspaper, often weeks after the fact.

His comrades might have held a hasty memorial ceremony in the field, but not back at Fort Lewis where his division deployed.

Today, as the nation pauses to honor its war dead, U.S. military service members do not pass away so anonymously.

Army posts across the country put on public memorial ceremonies, usually covered in the local media.

Grieving mothers, young widows, high school coaches and pastors are interviewed. Friends and family post online tributes.

Gale Poindexter knows all about it.

When her son, Sgt. Joel Lewis, was killed in Iraq this month, Poindexter found herself in the center of a media whirlwind. More than 700 people attended Lewis’ memorial ceremony at Fort Lewis, which was followed by a funeral the next day in Tacoma.

“In spite of the fact it was crazy, I was very happy,” she said. “I felt it honored him. It got the word out about him.”

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