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Tomb of the currently unknown soldier

By Phil Barron ⋅ June 15, 2006 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ Post a comment

So…when will the Pentagon bother to publicly identify the twenty-five hundreth soldier to die in Iraq?

It’s just a minor detail, I know. But inasmuch as these are flesh-and-blood men and women we’ve sent to fight for us - people with family, friends, histories - you’d think that the least we could do honor them by noting their names when they die.

This from Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, deputy director for regional operations for the military’s Joint Staff:

Rather than focus on an aggregate number, I think it’s more important for us to remember that there are individuals in that aggregate number … to whom we should be very, very grateful, and to their families.

Though it apparently isn’t important enough for General Ham to actually tell us who died.

Maybe just the number will do. For the tombstone, I mean.

Addendum: Noted without comment:

Q: Tony, American deaths in Iraq have reached 2,500. Is there any response or reaction from the President on that?

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow: It’s a number, and every time there’s one of these 500 benchmarks people want something.

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