Private First Class O'Neill US Army (died 9/29/2003)

[underpants]

This is a 2003 family handout photo showing U.S. Army Pfc. Evan O'Neill, 19 of Haverhill, Mass., who was killed on Monday, September 29, 2003 near Shkin, Afghanistan (news - web sites), during a clash with suspected Taliban guerrillas. (AP Photo/O'Neill Family handout)

[Mari333]

1. Kids. These are kids.

.

[Divernan]

2. He looks even younger than he is, and pretty frightened.

His life stretched before him, a blank slate which will now be forever blank. What a horrible tragedy and loss for his family, and all for the profits of the warmongering chicken hawks.

ON EDIT: When my kids were 19 years old, they were having the time of their lives as college sophomores. Thank God there was no George W. Bush in power then.

[Bunny]

3. RIP - PFC O'Neill

Thanks for your sacrifice.

[Padraig18]

4. May he rest in peace

You have not died in vain. We shall NEVER forget your sacrifice. :(

[HawkerHurricane]

5. A moment of silence for PFC O'Neill.

"When he gets to Heaven
To Saint Peter he shall tell
'Another soldier reporting, sir
Who has served his time in Hell!'"

[JohnKleeb]

15. I know that Hawker

I used to have it in my sig and its at the beginning of Medal of Honor: Frontline, I know many DUers dont like video games but damnit guys this game and some fiction taught me to respect and honor our fallen.
"When he gets to Heaven
To Saint Peter he shall tell
'Another soldier reporting, sir
Who has served his time in Hell!'"
RIP Private O'Neill.

[HawkerHurricane]

19. It's from a Marine's grave on Guadalcanal

Replace the word 'Soldier' with 'Marine' to get the original.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

6. God...how long? how many more of our children to be scarificed......

on the altar of bush*s oil god?????

look at this boys face...he was a BOY....a CHILD!!!

please remove this feeling of hatred from my heart for the man in washington....i have children the same age as this boy....God be with his parents NOW in their hour of need

[arwalden]

7. I Feel Like Weeping Every Time I See One Of These Photos...

... it's no longer "just a name".

It's a FACE and a PERSON... a young man or young woman with their whole lives ahead of them.

Not just a name... but an actual PERSON who was LOVED by someone. A person who will be MISSED and GRIEVED OVER by someone.

-- Allen

[Skittles]

8. he's a baby

*sniff*

[CheshireCat]

9. poor baby!

Children should not be sent to war. No one under 30 yo should be allowed to sign up.

These kids are too young to really understand what is going on. Of course, that is why the military wants them.

[Skittles]

14. I was just 17 when I enlisted

it astounds me to think I was a sergeant when I was 20.

[blondeatlast]

18. No one under the age of 30; I like it.

Peacetime service to earn educational grants.

What a wonderful world it would be. (sigh)

[SiobhanClancy]

10. Heartbreaking...

That face is going to haunt me for a long time.

[Malikshah]

11. In Memorian: Pfc. Evan O'Neill "The Grave"

The grave that they dug him had flowers
Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colors,
And the brown earth bleached white at the edge of his gravestone.
He's gone.

When the wars of our nation did beckon,
A man barely twenty did answer the calling.
Proud of the trust that he placed in our nation,
He's gone,
But Eternity knows him, and it knows what we've done.

And the rain fell like pearls on the leaves of the flowers
Leaving brown, muddy clay where the earth had been dry.
And deep in the trench he waited for hours,
As he held to his rifle and prayed not to die.

But the silence of night was shattered by fire
As guns and grenades blasted sharp through the air.
And one after another his comrades were slaughtered.
In morgue of Marines, alone standing there.

He crouched ever lower, ever lower with fear.
"They can't let me die! The can't let me die here!
I'll cover myself with the mud and the earth.
I'll cover myself! I know I'm not brave!
The earth! the earth! the earth is my grave. "

The grave that they dug him had flowers
Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colors,
And the brown earth bleached white at the edge of his gravestone.
He's gone.

---Don McLean

[caledesi]

12. Looking at this young person's pic makes me very sad and it

reminds me of Vietnam, almost like a sad flashback.

[underpants]

13. Yeah this photo was taken this year (he has NO rank in the pic)

In Afghanistan the ACTUAL War on terrorism.

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

16. Did they beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly.....

Well how do you do Private William McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside,
I'll rest for a while in the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day, Lord and I'm nearly done
I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the great fallen of 1916
I hope you died well and I hope you died clean
Or young Willie McBride was it slow and obscene

Chorus:
Did they beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly,
did they sound the death march as they lowered you down ?
and did the band play the last post and chorus ?
And did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

Did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in 1916, to that loyal heart are you forever 19
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enshrined there forever behind a glass pane
In an old photograph torn and tattered and
stained
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame

Chorus
------
The sun's shining now on the green Fields of France
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance
The trenches have vanished long under the plough
There's no gas, no barbed wire, there's no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard it's still no man's land
And the countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned

Chorus
------
And I can't help but wonder young Willie McBride
Do all who lie here with you know why they died
Did you really believe it when they told you the cause
Did you honestly think that one war would end wars
Well your suffering, your sorrow, your glory, your shame
Your killing, your dying, it was all done in vain..........
'Cos young Willie McBride it all happened again, and again, and again, and again and again.

Chorus


------




Scottish born but a naturalized citizen of Australia, ERIC BOGLE has been called by critics "The best songwriter of the day" and "one of the most important songwriters of the decade". Eric might pass off such high praise with a laugh, but the record (both literally and figuratively speaking) shows that this chubby little Scotsman from Peebles has given the world some of its most powerful protest songs...........It is the writing of songs such as "....Matilda", A Reason for It All and The Greenfields of France (No Man's Land or Willy McBride) which prompted the Australian government to present Eric with the Australian Peace Award to commemorate the International Year of Peace in 1986. In 1987 the government honored Eric with the Order of Australia for his contributions to that country's music and musical heritage.

[blondeatlast]

17. Good God. I looked in on my 6 year old son, reading quietly

in his room, just before I sat down to the daily GDF. This post immediately drew my attention. That really could be my beautiful boy at 19. There is a striking resemblance.

And I gave a grudging support to the war against the Taliban. This boy died for me. HE DIED FOR ME! God, make it stop, make it stop.

If I'm here with tears in my eyes, I can't imagine what his mom is going through. God Bless you, Mrs. O'Neill; my prayers are for you and your child tonight.

[TorchTheWitch]

20. Via Con Dios, Evan

The Vacant Chair

We shall meet but we shall miss him,
There will be one vacant chair;
We shall linger to caress him
While we breath our evening prayer.
When one year ago we gathered,
Joy was in his mild blue eye,
Now the golden cord is severed,
And our hopes in ruin lie.

We shall meet but we shall miss him,
There will be one vacant chair;
We shall linger to caress him
While we breath our evening prayer.

At our fireside, sad and lonely,
Often will the bosom swell
At remembrance of the story
How our noble Willie fell;
How he strove to bear our banner
Thro' the thickest of the fight,
And uphold our country's honor
In the strength of manhood's might.

We shall meet but we shall miss him,
There will be one vacant chair;
We shall linger to caress him
While we breath our evening prayer.

True they tell us wreaths of glory
Evermore will deck his brow,
But this soothes the anguish only
Sweeping o'er our heartstrings now,
Sleep today O' early fallen
In thy green and narrow bed,
Dirges from the pine and cypress
Mingle with the tears we shed.

We shall meet but we shall miss him,
There will be one vacant chair;
We shall linger to caress him
While we breath our evening prayer.

"The Vacant Chair" was one of the most widely sung songs of the American Civil War, popular among soldiers and civilians alike, in both the North and the South. The lyrics, by Henry S. Washburn were written on Thanksgiving, 1861, in honor of a deceased soldier and were then set to music by George F. Root, a popular composer at that time.

[Dookus]

21. good god,

just a kid. tragic.