It was March 21, 2003 when Charles and Darlene Newberry of Brandon Township walked into The Citizen office and proclaimed their son, Douglas Newberry, a paratrooper in the United States Infantry 173 Airborne was deployed in northern Iraq.
Just a few days earlier on March 19, 2003 United States and United Kingdom forces began conducting military operations against the state of Iraq designed to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction and to remove the Iraqi regime from power. Newberry, a Brandon High School graduate then 18 was part of that initial force.
Reverberations of the attack still rage’touching our office and communities. Parents, friends and family clutching soldier’s photos, letters and thoughts now endure the epic struggle realized since soldiers first left for war.
Today, about18 months after the invasion the community has responded in a variety of ways. Welcome home gatherings, locals preparing packages of ‘home-type items,? to send and occasional visits from soldiers become news items.
Unfortunately, since that initial front-page story regarding Douglas Newberry an almost weekly stream of names and pictures trickle into The Citizen. Stories of their duties vary from truck drivers to demolition experts to combat engineers’still one common message is repeated from those soldiers, ‘we need to know we’re supported back home.?
In an effort to demonstrate our support as this war grinds on into its second year The Citizen will continue to publish as much news regarding our service men and women as possible. Pictures, stories and notes from our communities? soldiers are a vital part of the war effort. Getting that information to the public is our duty as the local paper.
It’s the least we can do.