After Sept. 11, 2001, then-Cedar Rapids Jefferson senior Amanda Irish knew she would enlist. She’d been thinking about college, but also about old concepts of duty and sacrifice (she was reading “The Red Badge of Courage” at the time, she remembers). The choice was clear. “Somebody had to stand up to defend this [...]
continue »By The Gazette Editorial Board —- Our soldiers face more than homesickness when they’re sent to combat zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Danger is a constant. Many days, just surviving until the next is mighty hard. So when they’re wounded or otherwise injured during their tour of duty, a caring nation and its [...]
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For six months, Joshua Casteel slept 100 yards from an open-air burn pit that devoured everything from plastics and paint to electronics and human body parts. The Cedar Rapids native didn’t know smoke from the pit may also have been devouring his lungs. Casteel, a 32-year-old writer and peace activist, died Aug. 25 of lung [...]
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CORALVILLE – Iowa 2nd Congressional District candidates Dave Loebsack and John Archer made clear their differences on the economy, taxes and foreign policy in front of a sometimes rowdy crowd at a mid-afternoon forum Monday. Archer, the Republican challenger from Bettendorf, said his experience as an attorney for Deere & Co., a co-owner of [...]
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CASCADE – The parents of fallen soldier Michael Ristau said Friday that freedom is not free and they accept the cost. “We don’t feel he died in vain. We have it very good here because of people like him,” the soldier’s father, Randy Ristau, said during a news conference at City Hall. It helps knowing [...]
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By Gabe Haugland —- Editor’s note: Following are excerpts from Gabe Haugland’s remarks delivered during today’s Memorial Day Service in Clear Lake. Last year, I spoke here in this same cemetery as I was still mourning the loss of SGT Brent Maher of Honey Creek, Iowa, who I served with in Afghanistan. I [...]
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UPDATE: Conner Lowry wanted to fight for his country but understood his mother and siblings back home in Chicago would worry if they thought he was going to be sent into combat. On Friday, less than a day after learning that the 24-year-old Marine corporal had been killed in Afghanistan, his mother and younger sister [...]
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Exactly one week ago, Brian Terrell was sitting in a police station in Bahrain, awaiting deportation for his participation in a nonviolent demonstration. On Wednesday night, the Maloy, Iowa resident spoke to more than 40 people at the Iowa City Public Library, 123 S. Linn St., about his experience and his opposition to the United States’ [...]
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Matt Macke makes sure to keep his cellphone charged and within reach as he waits. He’s ready for the call when he is feeding his horses, and when he and his wife are feeding their four children. He is hoping for a job offer to arrive. Soon. In late May, Iowa National [...]
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Mourners at the southern Iowa funeral of a Marine who died in Afghanistan were told he was a caring man who “made you better.” The funeral was held Sunday in Centerville for Master Sgt. Travis Riddick. The 40-year-old had graduated from Centerville High School in1990. He was fatally injured in a Jan. 19 helicopter crash. [...]
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