4,000 American Lives Lost in Iraq, AP Reports
The Iraq war has claimed at least 4,000 American lives, according to the Associated Press. We will hear personal stories from those who have lost loved ones in the past five years — what families remember most, and how their lives have changed.
Guests:
Paul Schroeder, father of Marine Lance Cpl. Edward "Augie" Schroeder, killed Aug. 3, 2005 near Haditha, Iraq
Rick Turner, medically retired, Marine Lance Cpl. from the 3rd Battlion, 25th Marine Regiment in Brook Park, Ohio; survived suicide car bomb attack on Aug. 1, 2005 in Iraq, the same day six members of his unit were killed near Haditha
Ursula Pirtle, widow of U.S. Army specialist Heath Pirtle, who died Oct. 4, 2003 when his vehicle was struck in Assadah, Iraq
Kevin Mauer, former military reporter for the Fayetteville Observer
Report: American Death Toll in Iraq War Hits 4,000
Related NPR Stories
The Iraq war has claimed at least 4,000 American lives, according to the Associated Press. One of those Americans — Maj. Alan Greg Rogers — was killed in January.
Rogers' cousin, Cathy Long, and best friend, Shay Hill, gathered with other extended family earlier this month to bury him at Arlington National Cemetery.
About 200 people went to the burial — soldiers and civilians alike. They went even though it was far from Rogers' hometown in Florida. They went even though Rogers had no immediate family. Years before Rogers was killed by a bomb in Baghdad, he buried both of his parents. They were a childless couple who had adopted him at the age of 5.
Rogers had no wife or child to take away the flag that draped his coffin, so soldiers folded the flag and gave it to his cousin.
Long took the flag to the Washington bed and breakfast where she was spending the night, and late that afternoon, she welcomed Rogers' distant relatives and friends in the backyard.