another...2 sons from this family
foxnews.com
Family Loses Second Son in Military Plane Crash
AP
Gunnery Sgt. Stephen L. Bryson
Thursday, January 10, 2002
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A woman whose son died with six other Marines in a military plane crash in Pakistan said Thursday she supports the nation's fight against terrorism, despite her personal grief.
"The United States is doing the right thing," said Deloris Bryson, "but I was not prepared to sacrifice my only child."
Gunnery Sgt. Stephen L. Bryson, 36, a native of Montgomery, died Wednesday when his tanker plane crashed into a mountain ridge. Stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, Calif., Bryson was married to Katrina Washington, also of Montgomery.
They were wed in 1994 and had no children, family members said.
His father, Jimmie Bryson Jr., is a retired chief master sergeant living in Las Vegas, Nev., whose brother, Raymond Ervine Bryson, died in the 1984 crash of an Air Force F-4 fighter jet in Marion County, Ala., while serving in the Mississippi National Guard.
"I could not believe it," said Bryson's grandfather, 77-year-old Jimmy Bryson, "our family lost another son in a plane crash."
"My son loved to fly," Mrs. Bryson said, "and decided he would make military life his career when he volunteered to join the Marine Corps after graduating from high school."
She said her son, a graduate of Robert E. Lee High, had called her this week. "He just called to let me know he was thinking about me on Tuesday. It was his birthday. He turned 36."
She said she had not been told exactly where he was assigned when he was sent overseas
She said she had spoken to him on Christmas Day and he assured her that he would come home soon.
"I felt something was terribly wrong when I heard about the crash while at work Wednesday afternoon," she said. "When I arrived home later in the day, my neighbor informed me that two Marine Corps officers had stopped at the house.
"I knew something had happened to Stephen." |
