Posted on: Thursday, January 27, 2005

Town awaits any word on 'our military'

By B.J. Reyes
Associated Press

KAILUA — The crash of a transport helicopter in Iraq that claimed the lives of 27 Marines shook the Windward O'ahu community around the Kane'ohe Marine base as residents awaited the names of the dead.

"Your heart just sinks," said Bobbie Jerome, 34, a teacher whose Marine husband, Jon, has not been deployed to Iraq.

"Whether you know them or not," added Shondra Hampton, also 34, a fellow teacher at Kailua Intermediate School whose husband, Shawne, is in the Navy and also has not been deployed.

Some 12,000 Hawai'i-based troops, including 1,000 Marines, serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. About 4,700 members of the Hawai'i Army National Guard and the Army Reserve are scheduled to leave for Iraq in the coming months.

Yesterday's crash was the worst loss of American lives in a single incident since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

No single military attack or accident stands out as hitting Hawai'i harder since the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor that left 2,390 people dead and 1,178 wounded.

"That's a tragic story for everybody here," Bob Reeve, 71, a retiree who lives near the Kane'ohe base, said after hearing the news. "We like our military here. It's going to be a sad thing."

Lee Bowman, 25, of Kailua, a Navy medic who served in Iraq last year, said, "My heart goes out to them."

"It's a unity-building thing," said Margaret Franks, 52, of Kailua, "but I hate to have this tragic thing be the cause for us to be more united."