Another Unreported Casualty of the War in Iraq

[Clara T]

Casualties of a War a World Away

By Guardian Newspapers, 10/25/2005
 
Elaina Morton is not listed as one of the 2,000 Americans now confirmed killed in Iraq since the start of the war, but she might as well be. In US military parlance the 23-year-old lab technician from Kansas would have been referred to as a "surviving spouse". But three months after her husband, Staff Sergeant Benjamin Morton, was killed by insurgents in Mosul, Elaina picked up a gun and shot herself.

The fact that the military did not issue a press release to announce the death of the former college student who loved her cat, Stinky, and enjoyed hiking, photography and camping, does not make her any less a casualty of the war. Hers is thought to be the first confirmed case of a war widow committing suicide, and as the US toll in Iraq yesterday hit the grim 2,000 landmark her death is proof of the immeasurable emotional toll that the conflict has put on families of servicemen and women.

George Bush yesterday spoke to wives of servicemen at Bollings air force base in Washington, as part of a strategy to confront the death toll head on by portraying the sacrifice in the Iraq war as the best way to keep terrorists from striking the US again. But for many bereaved families the bigger picture the president highlighted has been consumed by the day-to-day struggle of coping with their grief.

Deedy Salie knows the feelings of isolation and desperation that Elaina Morton must have gone through before she took her life. Deedy's husband, David, was killed on Valentine's Day last year when his Humvee was blown up by an improvised explosive device in the restive city of Baquba, north-east of Baghdad. "I was an army wife for nine years, and the army way is 'suck it up and drive on'," she says. But no matter how hard she tried she couldn't just suck it up, and she couldn't just drive on. The pressures put on a family by a very public death, she says, are extreme.

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/10-25-2005-79835.asp

[Erika]

1. The war is insane. Terrorism has existed since the beginning

of time and will always be with us if we don't deal with the roots. W sending bodies into Iraq to die will do nothing and accomplish nothing. We don't even have a legitimate reason to be there.

Please check www.icasualties.org daily They also report on these stories.

[War Pigs]

2. Too sad

Don't forget the estimated tens of thousands of "psychological" casualties the Army predicts from chimpy's little adventure. Lifetimes of psychotherapy and Zoloft, etc. It's the gift that just keeps on giving, in other words a "legacy".:grr:

[welshTerrier2]

3. when i read things like this ...

i know it's wrong to spend even one more day fighting this insane war ... and i hear other Democrats talking about "responsible" policies and how we have to stay in Iraq another year or two ...

i just don't see why ... Iraq has not and will not attack America ... why can't we just learn to get along in this world???

OUT NOW !!! let's stop killing people and find another hobby ...

[murielm99]

4. This is like my son's friend,

who shot himself after coming back from Iraq. He will never be listed as a casualty of this war, but he is.

His father, who was so supportive of his soldier son, hates and blames this war. He would like everyone to know his son's story. He is looking for a way to tell it. When things are a little less raw, I may suggest that he contact Cindy Sheehan.

[welshTerrier2]

5. here's another ... it's far too common ...

here's an old thread i started after attending a forum with the parents of an Iraq vet who took his own life ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2248033

follow the link in the OP to the article it refers to ... post-traumatic stress is rampant ...

have your friend check out these guys: http://www.vaiw.org/vet/index.php

[Clara T]

6. thanks for the info

Happy New Year

:hi:

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Here is her obit from the KC Star; very sad

Morton, Elaina M.
Elaina M. Morton, 23, of Merriam, KS, passed away Thursday, August 25, 2005. Funeral services will be 2:30 p.m., Monday, August 29, at Bristol Hill United Methodist Church in Kansas City, KS. Burial will be 12 p.m. Tuesday, August 30, at St. Andrew Cemetery in Wright, KS. Friends may call from 3-5 p.m., Sunday, at Bristol Hill United Methodist Church and then again from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Tuesday, at St. Andrew Catholic Church. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions to Bristol Hill United Methodist Church. Elaina was born March 3, 1982 in Overland Park, KS, and she was a lifelong area resident. She was a 2000 graduate of Shawnee Mission North High School, and a 2004 graduate of Fort Hays State University, who went on to become a RAD Tech. She loved her cat Stinky, and she enjoyed hiking, photography, biking, camping and listening to music. She was a member of Bristol Hill. She was preceded in death by her dearly loved husband and soulmate, Sgt. Benjamin Morton, when he gave his life for his country in Iraq in May 2005. Survivors include her parents, Nacho Salinas, Jr. and Sharon Salinas of the home; her in-laws, Allen and Ruth Morton of Wright, KS; two brothers, Tom Morton and Frank Morton, both of Wright, KS; three sisters, Sarah Morton and Erin Morton of Wright, KS and Yolanda Salinas of Kansas City, MO; grandparents, Rex and Billie Morton of Arizona, Phillip and Barbara Lutz of Wright, KS, Tom and LaMoyne Kushner of Kansas City, KS, and Nacho Salinas, Sr. and Marcianna Salinas of Mission, KS; and her greatgrandmother, Francisca Reyes of Kansas City, MO. (Arrs.: Chapel HillButler Funeral Home 913-334-3366)
Published in the Kansas City Star on 8/27/2005.