ANDERSON — In the moments before Henry and Sharon White’s son was shot and killed when his convoy was ambushed along a Baghdad road, he took hold of the machine gun mounted to his Humvee and killed 18 insurgents, allowing the other members of his unit to scramble to safety.

Spc. Raymond L. White, just 22 years old when he died, was awarded the Silver Star, the military’s third highest honor for valor.

When the White family learned on Tuesday that President Barack Obama was putting an end to the war in Iraq, they wondered if they’d sacrificed their son for nothing.

“I feel that all the soldiers died in vain because they didn’t get to do what they were sent to do,” Sharon White said Thursday.

With one son still serving in the military, the White family wants the soldiers to remain in Iraq until “the job is done.”

The family would also like to see the country continue its fight in Afghanistan.

Now that combat operations in Iraq have ceased, Henry White says that giving up his son for a war that the president has given up on wasn’t worth the cost.

“The way it ended, no, it wasn’t worth the sacrifice,” he said.



Spc. Raymond L. White, Elwood

The Whites know that Ray, as they called him, was a hero, regardless of the outcome of the war.

When his convoy was ambushed on Nov. 12, 2004, a bullet fired by an insurgent jammed the gun on the second Humvee and the remaining soldiers scrambled to climb into the Humvees to escape the gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades being fired by the enemy.

Due to his position, Ray was the only soldier in the convoy able to return fire.

Sharon White is proud that her son died protecting the lives of the men in his unit.

Rather than ducking to avoid the incoming fire, Ray stood up, manned the gun and fired, ensuring that no one else in his convoy was killed.

“He stood tall and kept firing back because he knew all the other lives were in his hands,” Sharon White said.

When the firefight ended, Ray was dead and his convoy was safe.

The soldiers he’d saved  gathered the brass shell casings from the desert sand, collecting the evidence of each bullet he’d fired in the moments before he died.

Since Ray was a member of the Army’s Calvary unit, the brass shells were later melted down and formed into a set of spurs for each member of his unit. A set was also sent to his family.

The spurs are featured in the White family’s makeshift memorial to their son.

Each wall is adorned with a picture of Ray or a piece of his calvary gear.

The story of Ray’s final moments is just one in 4,408.

That’s the number of American soldiers killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Another 1,244 have been killed in Operation Enduring Freedom, the combat mission in Afghanistan.

While President Obama said that all U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Iraq over the next year, no indication has been given regarding an end to the war in Afghanistan.



Sgt. Robert E. Colvill, Anderson

For the family of Sgt. Robert E. Colvill, the end of war in the Middle East can’t come soon enough.

His father, Robert Colvill, and stepmother, Pam Colvill, remember every moment of the day they lost Rob.

“I’d heard it on the radio that five soldiers had been killed,” Robert Colvill recalled.

 It wasn’t until 5:30 p.m. that evening that he learned that his son was one of the five.

At 10:30 a.m. that morning, Rob had just returned to his barracks in Samarra, Iraq, and crawled into bed when the building came under attack.

A suicide car bomber crashed into the barracks, causing a massive explosion that was followed by several mortar rounds fired from insurgents who assisted in the attack.

“The place was flattened,” Robert Colvill explained.

Rob and four other soldiers died in the attack.

Soon after Rob’s death, the Colvill family was contacted by a soldier who was present during the attack.

“He said Rob never suffered,” Colvill said, blinking back tears.

It’s a small comfort for the family, still openly bitter about what Colvill calls a “senseless” war.

Robert Colvill said he believes the U.S. had “no business” going to Iraq, and is glad Obama has finally decided to end the war.

Pam Colvill wants all of the American soldiers to come home, including those currently fighting in Afghanistan.

She believes American families shouldn’t be forced to sacrifice sons and daughters for wars that seem to have no explanation.

Pam and Robert have collected every news article ever written about their son’s death and compiled a scrap book that features consolatory letters from heads of state.

A page in the center of the book contains four tattered white envelopes with Rob’s handwriting across the front. The four final letters they received from him, Robert Colvill said, demonstrate that even Rob was beginning to question his role in the war.

“He said ‘I don’t know why we’re here,’” Robert Colvill recalled.



Staff Sgt. Brian K. Miller, Pendleton

Donna Cook has not moved past the death of her son, Staff Sgt. Brian K. Miller.

Deeply affected by his death, Cook admits that she is being treated for depression.

Just two years ago last month, Cook learned that Miller had been killed in a vehicle accident in Abd Allah, Iraq, on Aug. 2, 2008.

“I just can’t get over him,” Cook said Friday.

Cook breathed a sigh of relief when she learned that the war in Iraq was over.

The only thing more difficult than losing a son to war had been losing a son to a war she didn’t understand or believe in.

“I just don’t think we should’ve been over there in the first place,” she said.

For Cook, the human toll of the war was too high. “I think we took on too much. A lot of our men died. Our kids have died.”

Cook’s son didn’t die in direct combat with the enemy.

He died when he swerved to avoid an object in the roadway, causing his vehicle to rollover.

National Guard spokesman Staff Sgt. Jeff Lowry speculated the vehicle might have swerved to miss an improvised explosive device (IED) in the roadway. “They must have thought it was an IED. There’s a lot of debris and a lot of trash in the road, and for soldiers to have to make spot-on decisions like that is awfully tough.”

Miller, 37, was a vehicle mechanic and had served 19 years in the Indiana National Guard.



Lance Cpl. Matthew R. Smith, Anderson

Just days after President George W. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier with a red, white and blue “Mission accomplished” banner over his head and claimed that the U.S. had won the war in Iraq, Lance Cpl. Matthew R. Smith became the first local soldier to die in Operation Iraqi Freedom when his Humvee crashed in Kuwait.

Matthew’s father, David Smith, knew better than to believe that his son would be safe after Bush’s victory speech.

“Last week, me and my wife talked about the dangers out there and the number of people getting killed in helicopter accidents and wrecks.”



The other war

The families of those lost in Iraq may have mixed reactions about the supposed end of the war in Iraq, but all recognize that one war is far from over.

The war in Afghanistan, which began on Oct. 7, 2001, has led to a loss of 1,244 American lives, including four young men with local ties.

Pfc. Jason D. Johns of Frankton had just turned 19 when he died from a non-combat injury in Bagram, Afghanistan, on Feb. 21, 2007.

Spc. Joshua Lee Hill, 24, was raised in Fairmount and became one of four soldiers killed in a roadside bomb attack west of Asadabad, Afghanistan, on March 12, 2006.

Sgt. Christopher Karch, 23, was killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 11 when his unit was caught in a firefight with insurgents. Karch lived in Indianapolis but his grandfather, Norman Karch, is an Anderson resident.

Sgt. John Rankel, 23, was killed in Afghanistan on June 7 when he was hit by enemy fire. He lived in Speedway, but his family was based in Anderson.



A look back

Rep. Scott Reske, D-Pendleton, was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve when he was deployed to Iraq in 2004.

As an officer, Reske admits that he was humbled by the young soldiers he encountered on the ground.

“Normally NCOs (non-commissioned officers) and officers aspire to be a good role model for the young service members but in the case of Iraq, it was the young troops that humbled the chain of command.”

The soldiers who fought and died in Iraq were presented with a unique challenge, he explained.

“They had to show so much restraint because the enemy was hidden amongst the civilians and that type of restraint takes a special type of  bravery and patience.”

“I don’t know how the hell they did it,” he said.

Whether or not one believes the war should have ended or not, Reske said the country must recognize the sacrifice made by members of the military and their families.

“We as a community and a nation should be humbled by the accomplishments of our young service members, we should be inspired by their endurance and their humanity and we all share the grief and wish we could lessen the burden on the families of the ones we lost.”

During his address to the nation, Obama said that Americans no longer live in the age of “surrender ceremonies” that demonstrate a clear victory, and the American soldiers’ victory is measured in different terms today.

“They stared into the darkest of human creations, war, and helped the Iraqi people seek the light of peace.”

Contact Brandi Watters 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com