Wednesday, August 10th, 2005. My better.
I take pride in a few things that I know well. Yesterday I watched this elegy video of the funeral of Usmc Corporal Robert Warns II and I knew I could never be this proud.
I lament his early death as I celebrate his life, bidding farewell to a name and number dear to many. Never to be forgotten.
Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?
That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.
A. E. Housman (1859-1936). A Shropshire Lad. 1896.
XL. Into my heart an air that kills
Corporal Robert Warns.
Madison, Wisconsin.
Robert “Bobby” Warns II, 23, whose unit arrived in Iraq in September 2004, was killed on November, 8th, 2004, in an explosion near Baghdad, along with two other Marines from a Madison-based Reserve company, “as a result of enemy action,” according to issued military statements.
Bobby Warns was a cutup, a joker, a prankster. Making people laugh was something that came naturally. He almost lost his liberty privileges at Camp Pendleton while training with his Marine Reserve unit when he was caught trying to crawl out of his dorm window while singing the theme to “Mission Impossible.”
He fashioned a 12-foot-long straw so he could drink while sitting one story above his cocktail. He bought an inflatable kiddie pool, filled it with water and posed for a photo wearing a lifeguard shirt and whistle next to six burly Marines jammed into the pool.
Bobby, a Waukesha Catholic Memorial High School graduate, was killed in November in Iraq.
“The thing his Marines said was that he never changed, he was always Bobby,” said his mother, Bridget Warns. “The war affected a lot of them, but Bobby didn’t change. He could get a laugh out of people. They told us it was so helpful to have somebody who kept their spirits up because it was unbelievable what they went through over there.”
Bobby didn’t get to meet his daughter, Payton, who was born this month. She’ll get to know her father through scrapbooks, photos and videos of his life as a Marine that were found on his laptop and in the stories she’ll one day hear from the men who proudly served with her dad.
News of Wisconsin’s 25th casualty in Iraq sent shock waves Wednesday through Catholic Memorial High School, where Warns was remembered as a likable student who was intent on becoming a Marine.
“It’s a very emotional time for us,” Principal Kathleen Cepelka said. “It brings the conflict home for us.”
Cepelka led the high school Wednesday in a prayer for Warns, who she said enlisted in the Marines “to serve his country, to serve his community and to serve his God.”
Catholic Memorial was founded to honor the 23 members of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Waukesha who died fighting in World War II, said Steve Plechaty, dean of students at the school.
Honoring the war dead has been extended to all Catholic Memorial students who have died in service to their country, Plechaty said.
“Bobby is the first one we’ve lost since the Vietnam War,” said Pat Farrell, an assistant principal.
“If there’s one thing to say about Bobby, it was that he followed his dream to become a Marine,” Farrell said. “He would talk about it openly.”
Farrell said he could still picture Warns bounding down school halls as an energetic freshman.
“Everyone knows of that one kid who you would hear coming down the hall before you’d see him,” he said. “He never had a bad day. He was the one at the game who cheered the loudest or laughed the loudest in the cafeteria.”
A corporal in a Madison-based unit of the 24th Marine Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Warns was in the same unit as Lance Cpl. Shane K. O’Donnell, 24, of De Forest, who also was killed Monday and became the state’s 24th casualty in Iraq.
The third Marine killed Monday was Lance Cpl. Brandon Ramey, 22, of Belvidere, Ill.
The three were killed at 3:10 p.m. Iraq time south of Baghdad. They were not involved in the fighting in Fallujah, Marines spokesman Maj. Terry Race said.
Violence in areas near Baghdad has coincided with the American-led assault on insurgents in Fallujah.
Warns joined the Marines just days after high school and continued serving while he attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He was a business student in his senior year at UWM when he was deployed to Iraq.
His unit was activated in June and arrived in Iraq in late September.
According to a statement issued by his grieving family through their church, St. Mary’s Parish in Waukesha, Warns enjoyed drawing and other artistic crafts. In high school, he wrestled, ran track and played tennis.
His family showed their pride in Warns’ fighting in the Iraqi war by adorning the front of their southeast side home with yellow ribbons and a Marine flag. They asked that their privacy not be disturbed.
“He was an awesome brother and a very loving son,” the statement says. “He loved life and lived every day to the fullest.”
Plechaty gave a similar assessment of Warns.
“He was a very vivacious student. He was well-liked, and he was very much a good friend. When I look back at his career at Memorial, he was a good kid who would be honest with you. He certainly will be well-remembered.”
Warns’ name will soon be placed on a memorial plaque for fallen servicemen and women that hangs at an entrance to Catholic Memorial, Farrell said.
[Ignacio Wenley Palacios]
in Military
|
2 Comments
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (2)
I am so honored by Bobby's story on your site. So many wonderful people have sent messages to me about Bobby. Few have touched me as deeply as your tribute.
Bobby's spirit is with us everyday. We feel him in the wind, see him the stars and hear him through his little cousins and baby daughter.
I was glad to see your post. My daughter Andrea read it as well. She showed interest in Payton. I told her the few facts I have gathered on Bobby. She smiled when she learned that already a Marine, he was never reluctant to hold hands and kiss you. She was happy to recognize the verses that Mr Warns said in the funeral as she knows the Corps hymn by heart.
As for me, I am still amazed that people that I would be proud to know and call friends are the ones fighting for us. Furthermore, everything I know about your son tells me that he was a notable man. I am certain that his fine example will always help Payton.
My mother sends you her warmest greetings. I thank you.
Respectfully,
Ignacio.