President meets mom of soldier who died in Iraq
By Brad Olson Caller-Times
March 19, 2004
Earlier this week, Betty Russell watched disapprovingly as parents of soldiers marched on Washington to protest the conflict in Iraq.
She noticed that a leader of the rally read all the names of fallen soldiers and she resented that her son's name, Sgt. John Wayne Russell, who died in a helicopter crash in November, was used to make a point.
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"John wouldn't have wanted them to use his name," she said. "He still believed those people needed to be liberated. It wasn't about chemical weapons or whatever."
Jon Fife, John Russell's best friend and someone who was like a son to Betty Russell, said the protests make him angry.
"It's uncalled for. Those guys are told what to do, when to do it, and they do it," he said.
Betty Russell received quite a surprise Tuesday morning when she found out from John's former commanding officer, of the 101st Airborne Division, that President Bush would like to meet with her and other families who lost loved ones in the helicopter crash. They met on Thursday at Fort Campbell, Ky.
Before she left, she said she was anxious to meet "Uncle George," as she called him, but even more enthusiastic about meeting the other soldiers from John's unit. "I just want to put names to faces," she said.
Russell has had close contact with many of John's comrades. She used donations from local residents to send Christmas gifts to the unit: movies, phone cards, hot chocolate, coffee creamers, and as much reading material as she could gather.
"John always wanted something to read," she said. "By the time I censored everything, there was nothing left to send him. There was always negative stuff in the magazines."
Russell decorated a small room in her house with all of her son's things. She has hung photos from his childhood to his last days in Iraq. Shelves house his medals and videos of World Wrestling Federation matches featuring his favorite wrestler, Stone Cold Steve Austin.
"I come in and talk to him sometimes," she said.
Picking up a photo of John Russell in his fatigues making a "V" with his fore and middle fingers, Russell stroked the edge of the frame.
"Yeah," she said. "That's definitely John-boy."
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