Capt. Corry P. Tyler
On Wednesday of this week I took off of work to spend the day with Heather and the boys for the last trip of the summer to the local water park. We got there when it opened and stayed until it was within twenty minutes of closing. At the beginning of our day I remarked to Heather that I’d forgotten to bring my cell phone, and she said she had left hers at home as well.
We had the best of days — letting each of the boys choose in turn which ride they wanted to go to next. Their vitality and courage is amazing to me. At their age I was never as brave as they are. We left the park exhausted and ready for a good dinner.
We drove home to change into dry clothes before dinner to find that both of our cell phones had voice messages waiting and there were over 20 missed called on the home phone callerID — all from Heather’s father. We knew that whatever the news was it was not good news.
Heather’s cousin Corry had died early that morning in Iraq. At once tears flowed and a deep anger welled up inside both of us.
Corry Paul Tyler, 29, an Army captain and 1999 West Point graduate from Woodbine, Georgia, was one of the 14 soldiers killed in the crash of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter near Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Wednesday, August 22, 2007.
In the dark hours before dawn, Corry and three other soldiers from the 4th Squadron, 6th Air Cavalry, Fort Lewis, Washington, picked up ten troops from the 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, after a night mission.
Corry was a husband to his loving wife and a father to his three young children. He was the sole remaining male in his family which allowed him to avoid deployment; yet this was his third tour in Iraq.
Corry hoped to go to medical school and become an Army physician. He was to have heard soon if he had been accepted.
Today there are 3723 U.S. deaths in Iraq confirmed by the Department of Defense. Before Wednesday, that ever increasing number was more of an abstraction to me than reality. With the death of Corry, the addition of one integer to that total number, it is no longer an abstraction. It’s an open wound of pain and loss of infinite proportions for every family of every fallen soldier and citizen.
Capt. Corry P. Tyler served his family and country honorably to the end, and he shall be remembered by all those who knew him as one who lived deliberately and deeply.
Links to related news stories and web pages:
www.west-point.org
www.news4jax.com
projects.washingtonpost.com
seattlepi.nwsource.com
www.honoluluadvertiser.com
www.forbes.com
www.nytimes.com
www.timesonline.co.uk
Good morning!
I totally meant to write a post last night, and then I got caught up in Top Chef and So You Think You Can Dance. I’m a sucker for reality competition shows. I’m waiting (not so patiently) for the next season of Project Runway. I love that show!
Lots to share today…. I hope you don’t mind if I really talk through our cruise day by day. I’m doing it mostly for my benefit so I don’t forget what we did. I’ve got to do a cruise mini-album doncha know. heehee
Day2–7/26/07–We slept late at the h/motel. Late meaning we didn’t get up at the usual 6:30 when the boys get up. *wink* We had a buffet breakfast in the restaurant and got our things ready to catch the shuttle to the boat. Seeing the boat for the first time was so exciting! You really don’t comprehend how big these things are until you are standing next to them. We left our bags with the porter on the dock and went inside to get checked in. Everything went very smoothly. We got our SeaPass cards (these things are like your ID and credit card all rolled into one), got our ‘Welcome Aboard’ picture taken, and proceeded up the gangway. The inside of the ship was overwhelming! All glitz and glamour. Brass and glass everywhere. We went to the Windjammer Cafe where they were serving buffet lunch as our stateroom would not be ready until 1. It was hard to find a seat in the cafe, but we managed to find a place by the window. We ate lunch and watched the boats go by. We went to find our stateroom and get settled only to find it not quite done. So we decided to go explore the ship. We walked through the shopping area, found the pools, gym, and spa. Just before departure, we had the obligatory safety drill. Those life jackets are *so* fashionable…. (can you hear the sarcasm??) After the drill, we took our life jackets back to the room and headed to the pool deck to find ourselves a Bon Voyage drink and prepare to set sail. I can’t tell you how much the ship’s horn scared me…I almost spilled my drink!! When we were out on the open sea, Wade and I went back to the cabin to relax a bit and get ready for the show and dinner. The show was fun! It was a musical recap of movie songs from the last three or four decades. Totally up my alley. Wade, on the other hand, fell asleep…. lol. At dinner that night, we met our table mates. They all turned out to be great people to spend a few dinners with! Some pics from Day 2
The two of us in our life jackets…ready for the drill!
Wade and his Bon Voyage drink…
Me and my hair getting blown every which way out on the open sea…
*****Day Three tomorrow!
The next set of pages in Holly’s wedding album were letters that I wrote to both of them. I used their engagement photos for the pics. I won’t type out what I wrote to them…you’ll have to ask them if you want to read the letters. *wink*
Ok…can you stand a few more pictures??? While we were in Georgia, we took the boys to Avondale Estates. Wade and I were married there 10 years ago. We took them to the exact spot and decided to have a family photo shoot. We got a few good shots. Here’s one that I thought was fun…
I also set up the camera so that Tyler could push the button and recreate one of our wedding photos. Here’s the pic from this year…
And here’s the original…10 years earlier…
I decided to use these two pics in a scrapbook page to thank Wade…for everything…
Alright. I think I’m done for now. I hope I can get back on here tonight…but the season finale for So You Think You Can Dance is tonight. We’ll see how I feel…. *wink*
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