It’s too sad to put in the Pit, so I don’t know where else to put it. I don’t know this family, but their plight has affected me deeply. I’ve been yoyoing between deep sadness and deep anger because their deaths were unnecessary.
The first story is from right after the son, Robert Unruh, died. It includes photos of him and his mother, Karen Unruh-Wahrer.
Family of Tucsonan killed in Iraq proud of his sacrifice
The attacks of Sept. 11 propelled Robert Unruh into military service, where he followed his father’s, grandfather’s and great-grand-father’s legacy of combat service.
Unruh, a 25-year-old Army specialist, was killed west of Baghdad on Saturday when his engineering unit fell under attack by enemy forces.
His parents, Karen Unruh-Wahrer and Dennis Wahrer, remember their son as a quiet kid who was protective of his family and loyal to his country.
Mother of soldier killed in Iraq collapses, dies
‘Her grief was so intense,’ hospital worker says
TUCSON, Arizona (AP) – A 45-year-old woman collapsed and died days after learning her son had been killed in Iraq, and just hours after seeing his body.
Results of an autopsy were not immediately released, but friends of Karen Unruh-Wahrer said she couldn’t stop crying over losing her 25-year-old son, Army Spc. Robert Oliver Unruh, who was killed by enemy fire near Baghdad on September 25.
“Her grief was so intense – it seemed it could have harmed her, could have caused a heart attack. Her husband described it as a broken heart,” said Cheryl Hamilton, manager of respiratory care services at University Medical Center, where Unruh-Wahrer worked as a respiratory therapist.
Unruh, a combat engineer, had been in Iraq less than a month when he was shot during an attack on his unit.
Several days after learning of his death, his mother had gone to the hospital complaining of chest pains, Hamilton said. She was feeling better the next day but saw her son’s body Saturday morning and collapsed that night in her kitchen.
Baker
October 6, 2004, 10:02pm
2
“Grant to the departed eternal rest. May light perpetual shine upon them.”
hocow
October 7, 2004, 2:49am
3
Oh my God. There are just no words…
Grant them rest, peace and happiness eternal.
If it was too sad to put in the Pit, then why did you post the exact same link in the Pit a mere hour after this one?