Published: October 31, 2009 01:19 pm         

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: A nation, its president and a hometown touched by cost of war

Sacrifice by Sgt. Dale Griffin, others deserves gratitude

The hard reality of war touched the nation and the Terre Haute community last week. The ultimate price of the conflict in Afghanistan was felt when the remains of a fallen soldier — U.S. Army Sgt. Dale Griffin of Terre Haute — came home to the United States.

The solemn moment, quietly unfolding in the predawn hours Thursday morning at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, was seen by Americans through news coverage. The nation’s commander in chief, President Obama, joined Army officers in a salute as the flag-covered caskets containing the remains of Griffin and 17 other Americans killed last week in Afghanistan were carried off of a C-17 cargo plane.

The poignant scene held many ramifications. News images of the fallen soldier’s return represented a change in an 18-year ban on such reporting; Griffin’s family consented to the coverage, under a revised Pentagon policy. The presence of Obama marked a significant change, too. No president in recent memory had personally witnessed such an instance, known by the military as “a dignified transfer.” His choice is appreciated. That experience, no doubt, will weigh heavily on Obama’s mind as he faces difficult decisions about the war’s future course.

But most of all, the high sacrifice paid by this young soldier deserves the gratitude of his nation and community.

Dale Griffin left a vibrant impression on his hometown of Terre Haute. As a Boy Scout, he climbed to that organization’s highest plateau — Eagle Scout. In high school, he mastered the toughest of prep sports, wrestling, and finished as the 1999 state runnerup in the 189-pound class for Terre Haute South. Griffin “wasn’t just a member of something. He wanted to do the very best he possibly could in it,” said his former South coach, Steve Joseph. He later attended and wrestled at the Virginia Military Institute.

Griffin enlisted in the Army in 2005, one of thousands of young Americans motivated toward service after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

He was in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province on Tuesday with fellow soldiers from the Army’s 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Wash. Griffin and six others were killed that day, when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle.

His parents, family, friends, community and country now grieve the loss of a promising, inspiring life.

Since 2001, the lives of 5,168 American military men and women have been lost in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, including several service members from the Wabash Valley. Each of them — sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, friends and colleagues — leaves a legacy for their saddened survivors. President Obama noted those memories, after witnessing the return of Dale Griffin and 17 fellow fallen Americans hours before sunrise Thursday.

“It was a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day,” the president said, “not only our troops, but their families as well.”