We lost another Jewish warrior

Exeprt from Marine Felt Calling After 9/11 Attacks, by Leef Smith of the Washington Post:

Tuesday, September 12, 2006; Colin Wolfe was in sixth grade, fixated on girls, sports and the challenges of being a preteen, when a group of Marines visited his Manassas elementary school. He returned to his Manassas home that afternoon with their presentation swimming in his head. Perhaps, he told his parents, he might enlist one day. Wolfe, 19, of Manassas was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Hundreds of mourners attended his funeral.

It was just childhood talk, his parents reasoned. Their son was a skilled ballet dancer, performing since childhood with a local dance company, and he had smarts. Perhaps he would go to college. Then came Sept. 11, 2001. Wolfe was 14 when the twin towers fell, and like so many, he watched in horror as the Pentagon burned on cable news channels. He was just a boy, but the call to action that he felt struck deep.

In the years that followed, he collected articles depicting the attacks and search for Osama bin Laden. He talked with friends and family about the war on terror and visited the Pentagon and Ground Zero in New York. And when he graduated from Osbourn High School in Manassas last year, he did the one thing he felt in his heart that was right: He enlisted in the Marines, ready to fight.”Like a lot of kids, he had a sense of wanting to serve his country, but 9/11 crystallized that in him,” said Mark Wolfe, his father. Pfc. Colin J. Wolfe, 19, was deployed to Iraq in July. He was killed Aug. 30 in Anbar province, when the Humvee in which he was riding struck a roadside bomb.Yesterday, family and friends gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to honor the slain Marine. His parents picked Sept. 11 for the burial, believing it to be a fitting tribute to a young man who gave his life for his country in Iraq.

“He knew what he was fighting for and what he was all about,” Mark Wolfe said. “He believed he was serving the country, protecting the country. He had made his choice.”

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2 comments

  • I love the site….

    I would like to say prayers for the Jewish soldiers who died in the most recent conflict in Iraq/Afghanistan and here is the list I have so far…

    Cpl Mark Asher Evnin

    1st Lt. Seth Dvorin

    1st Lt. David Bernstein

    Sgt Marc Seiden

    Spc Daniel J Freeman

    and now

    PFC Colin J Wolfe

    may their memories be for a blessing….

    Does anybody else have anymore names(I hope not)?

    Wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year of 5767

    Neal A.

  • I know of another Jewish soldier, Ryan Clark.

    Stars and Stripes European edition, Saturday, July 8, 2006

    Pfc. Ryan J. Clark

    BAUMHOLDER, Germany – Baumholder has suffered another tough loss, this one made that much tougher by how Pfc. Ryan J. Clark fought to live.

    “We all wanted this 19-year-old to pull though,” said Capt. Catherine Carlson, rear detachment commander for the 40th Engineer (Combat) Battalion, 1st Armored Division, during Clark’s memorial Friday. “He fought to get home to family and friends,” Carlson said. The young soldier won that fight, his family and friends with him when he passed away, she said.

    Clark died June 29 at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He was wounded June 17 in Ramadi when a roadside bomb hit his Humvee during a patrol. Two other 40th Engineer soldiers – Sgt. Reyes Ramirez and Cpl. Robert L. Jones – died instantly in the attack.

    Clark was badly hurt in the explosion, “but was up walking around,” said Staff Sgt. Robert Best, who was in the Humvee just behind Clark, Ramirez and Jones. “The medic and I went to get him, and we radioed to base. (Clark) was talking all the way back. He was in shock, but he was talking,” said Best, platoon sergeant for Clark’s unit, 2nd Platoon, Company C.

    Best and speakers at his memorial remembered Clark, a .50 cal gunner, as an ardent baseball fan.

    “He loved baseball. They were right on the money about that,” Best said. When the 40th Engineer Battalion was in Kuwait from November 2005 to last May before deploying to Iraq, Clark was always ready for a pick-up softball game. “He was very athletic,” the platoon sergeant said. “He played shortstop.”

    Clark was also devoted to his Jewish faith, Best said.

    The Lancaster, Calif., native “loved his family, baseball and hanging out at Chili’s (Restaurant) at Ramstein,” said Sgt. John Goodrow, who gave one of the memorial tributes. Clark was funny and spontaneous, Goodrow said. When a new soldier came in to the squad, Clark went up and introduced himself: “He said, ‘I don’t know you, but I really like you because now I don’t have to carry the SAW anymore,” Goodrow said, referring to the squad automatic weapon, much heavier than an M-4 carbine.

    Ryan Clark is survived by his parents, Pennie and Keith J. Clark, and his brothers, Sean and Justin Clark.

    Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered flags flown at half-staff Thursday at the capitol building in Sacramento, according to a state news release. “Today Maria and I join all Californians in expressing our sadness over the loss of (Pfc.) Clark,” Schwarzenegger was quoted as saying in the release. “We wish to extend our heartfelt sympathies to Ryan’s family. Every person willing to sacrifice their life for this country and our freedoms deserves our utmost respect and gratitude.”