The grief of a soldier's mother: 'George Bush killed my son'
Posted on Sunday, November 16 @ 09:42:39 EST
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By Don Babwin, The Associated Press
GENOA -- In a memorial service almost devoid of the military trappings that have become so familiar with those of other soldiers killed in Iraq, Army 1st Lt. Brian Slavenas was remembered Thursday as a gentle man.
"I met him as a freshman in high school and I never heard him put another kid down," said Phil Heinisch of Decatur, one of nine friends who told humorous and sometimes touching stories about Slavenas.
Slavenas, 30, was one of 16 soldiers killed in Iraq earlier this month when the Chinook helicopter he was piloting was shot down.
More than 200 people, including Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, packed into Faith United Methodist Church, and a few dozen more listened to the 70-minute service in the church basement.
And while there were several soldiers in uniform in the church, Slavenas' casket was covered with flowers, not an American flag. One of the few military traditions was the playing of "Taps" outside the church after a brief service at the cemetery nearby.
Outside the church, Slavenas' mother gave a blistering attack on President Bush.
"George Bush killed my son," said Rosemary Dietz Slavenas, whom friends described as an anti-war activist before her son was killed.
"I believe my son Brian died not for his country but because of our country's lack of a coherent and civilized foreign policy," she said.
Like his paratrooper father and two older brothers who served in the Army and the Marines, Slavenas decided to follow a path to the military.
A military ceremony honoring Slavenas' service was held Wednesday at the Genoa Veterans Home.
Friends and family have described Slavenas as a nonviolent man who wasn't eager to go to the Middle East when he left in April but felt a duty to his country nonetheless.
Thursday's service was a sometimes somber ceremony that for the most part was a celebration of his life. Downstairs, mourners watched a slide show of Slavenas in various stages of his life -- as a Little Leaguer, elementary school student, an adult with his father and a soldier.
There were stories about playing basketball, flying, his devotion to weightlifting, his sense of humor and his mischievous side.
They told small stories, the kind friends tell over and over. The kind told at the kitchen table, stories friends already know by heart but still want to hear. They told about small gestures that said something much larger about Slavenas.
Ed Rubeck, 31, of Rochelle, told of the day the two met when they were 5.
"He told me the "S" on the seat of his Schwinn bicycle stood for Slavenas," he said.
Lance Gackowski, a teacher of Slavenas' who later worked with him at a moving company, talked about the small gestures that said something much bigger.
Brian, he said, insisted on sitting in the most cramped spot on the moving truck when he was working with two other guys, even though at 6 feet, 5 inches tall, it was toughest on him.
"He had a servant's heart," Gackowski said. "He served his family, friends and country to the end."
From Associated Press:
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