Authors Catherine Moy and Melanie Morgan spare no details in "American Mourning: A Story of Two Families," a new book that offers more than a poignant look at the suffering and tribulations of two families that have lost sons in Iraq.
The book rips the scabs off the wounds of war as visited upon the home front in vivid detail:
"One of the officers repeated the message of Casey's death in Iraq. Cindy [Sheehan] collapsed. She wailed . . .
"‘After what seemed like an eternity, [Sheehan later wrote] I finally began to wonder who or what was making those horrible screaming noises.'"
From the first notification by the uniformed officers; meeting the boxed bodies flown home from the war zone; the viewing of the hero's face and form for the last time; the raw sights, sounds and stenches of the combat action that snatched their young lives; to the last missives home — the reader shares these experiences in heart-wrenching shudders.
And, yes, Cindy Sheehan, the wailing mom, is the world's most famous grieving mother — commandant of "Camp Casey" outside the president's Crawford, Tex. ranch — the woman who lost her faith, alienated her husband of almost three decades, and channeled her pain into a infamous personal war against George Bush and his administration of "killers" and "liars."
Taking on Sheehan is Melanie Morgan, the leader of Move Forward America (www.moveamericaforward.org), the conservative answer to MoveOn.org. She also broadcasts on her highly rated morning show on KSFO 560 AM in San Francisco.
Perhaps the subject matter in the book would be all-too-familiar turf were it not for the insights that sound the depths of Sheehan's grief and the balancing story of the second family in the drama — that of Justin Johnson, a fellow soldier with Casey Sheehan in the First Cavalry Division.
Our two heroes are fast friends, but their families are polar opposites as they grapple with unimaginable loss — sons dead in the crucible of war in a very faraway and hostile land.
"Sadr City is a steaming slum of humanity and its waste. Gutters run with human waste, urine, blood, and vomit," write the authors.
This "Shiite slum" is the venue for the sacrifice of Casey and Justin — Casey slain in an ambush as he rode out in defense of brother warriors under fire; Justin dead six days later as shrapnel from an improvised explosive device (IED) found its way through a gap in his body armor and into his chest.
The war is over for our two gallant heroes, but it is just beginning on the home front.
Justin's father, already a veteran of tours in both the Army and the Navy and now 45 years old, volunteers for an Army National Guard unit earmarked for Iraq. His draconian cure for his grief and anger? Get over there and pull the trigger on the enemy. Kill those who took his precious son's life — the youngster he taught to hunt and shoot.
His military occupational specialty fits the revenge bill — he's a gunner on an armored vehicle.
Justin's mom, Jan, lets her husband go, knowing that it's the only way for him to dispel his own demons.
As for her despair, the reader finds it palpable in such passages as this describing her entry to a viewing room to see her uniformed and decorated son:
"Jan's eyes moved slowly over her son's body and her heart broke again. She saw stitches around his hairline, but she never found out why they were there. Jan wanted to hold him and kiss him and love him. She wanted to make it better for everyone. For Justin.
"That's what a mother does."
Jan Johnson never politicizes her son's death and never blames President Bush — the polar opposite of Sheehan's reaction.
Cindy Sheehan, of course, cannot accept her son's death as that of a warrior defending his country. And from the very beginning, she finds fault:
"Does anyone who is attacking me know how Casey was brought home from Iraq? We picked him up in the United [Airlines] loading dock in a cardboard box and he was off-loaded into a hearse without one honor guard . . . Casey was treated as an over-sized piece of luggage."
What is lacking is the fact that the cardboard box was there to protect the coffin beneath and that his remains arrived at Dover Air Force Base on the first leg back from Iraq, flag-draped and with full honors. But that does not diminish the reader's appreciation for the anger and anguish that wells up from the pages.
In the end, a frenzied Cindy Sheehan covers the country with her anti-war, anti-Bush message.
The authors let us know, however, that it is not the old Cindy on the march:
"‘She is not the Cindy I knew,' one friend recalls. ‘The person I knew wouldn't do those things — talk like that and curse. I enjoyed knowing Cindy Sheehan, but she is no longer my friend. I lost her.'"
The two mothers of the comrades-in-arms never embrace in mutual comfort and commiseration. As Jan recalls: "I said she was a disgrace and dishonoring her son and our boys. I just told her."
That was in an e-mail. Cindy would not ever respond.
Despite the fact that co-author Melanie Morgan is president of Move America Forward, an organization "dedicated to supporting our troops in their fight against terrorism," the Cindy Sheehan part of the saga is a straight-forward enough tale.
However, there is no great effort to mask the warts and moles.
If the blood-soaked streets of Sadr City make you queasy, a gratuitous peek into the Sheehan home environment that surrounded Casey in high school is also remarkable for its grisliness.
"‘It was like going into the SPCA,' Bob [a visitor] said. ‘There wasn't a square-foot of the carpet that wasn't peed on . . .' The microwave was thick with filth, and the oven door was torn from its hinges . . . Some bedrooms upstairs had bare mattresses lying on the floor, Bob said. ‘They were the kids' rooms.'"
But it was no desire to escape from squalor that drove Casey to the military. He was a proud Eagle Scout and a profoundly religious man who was very close to his family.
No matter how the reader is drawn to the pain of the survivors, it is the two young men who gave their lives that never recede to mere background. As Justin wrote in a posting to FallenHeroesMemorial.com just hours before his own gallant sacrifice:
"My name is Spc. Justin Johnson of the 1-82 field arty battalion. Casey was a great friend of mine and is missed by us. All I wanted to say is that he is in my heart all the time."
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