Pennsylvania, and the Anonymous Few Dying Half a World Away

PHILADELPHIA - I spent a morning last week looking for Francis Xavier Kane on his anniversary even though I knew he was gone, lost all those years ago, exactly 40, when he was killed April 21, 1968 a few miles west of a lethal place called Quang Tri City in a country called Vietnam. He was a proud member of the Marine Corps, 18 years old, one of 646 dead from Philadelphia, when he lost his life in another war ignited by a lie.

Kane grew up in the Torresdale neighborhood, one small section of a sprawling city where many still identify themselves by the Catholic parish their families attended before education, income, social mobility, resentment or apprehension finally pushed them to the suburbs. He went to Father Judge High school. That school -- Father Judge -- had 27 graduates killed in Vietnam, the highest number of casualties suffered by any private or parochial school in the land. Ironically, it is just a few miles from Edison High in North Philly which lost more pupils than any other public high: 66 of them swallowed by a catastrophe that tore the American soul as it floundered toward a flawed finish, each day of each long year claiming more names now stenciled on a crying wall in Washington.

I was thinking of Francis Kane, wondering if his parents, his three brothers and three sisters, his friends, called him Francis? Or Frannie? Was he an altar boy? Did he ever have a girlfriend? Did he like the Eagles? The Phillies? I wondered what he'd have done with his life had he survived? What he'd think about Obama and Clinton and an election where the cost of gas and health care is, predictably and understandably, a bigger issue than the price of war?

Philadelphia is a town where even the sidewalks seem to sweat. It's a place of hard work and ethnic elbowing, a mix of urban stew where homicide bubbles within blocks of places where art and civility flourish and prosper.

The other night at the Sheetmetal Workers Hall here, Congressman Bob Brady, boss of the city's Democratic Committee, stood on a stage surrounded by 14 American flags and introduced a slew of candidates for local office. The issues were clear: judgeships, streetlights, playgrounds, patronage and public safety.

"These are our people that's local, "Brady shouted, pointing to the candidates on stage with him. "All our priorities is local. The primary thing is a family squabble, a brother-sister thing that we're all familiar with but we'll all be together after it's over."

There were maybe 300 people packed into the place because both Clinton and Obama were coming, making separate appearances. There were a dozen TV cameras on a riser at the rear of the hall. There were two open bars, a ton of free food and a group cholesterol count that probably equaled the GNP of Sweden as everyone ate and drank with both hands waiting for the main event.

Senator Clinton arrived first. She appeared tired and spoke quickly, like a substitute teacher afraid of losing the class' attention. She mentioned Iraq briefly, choosing to concentrate on the domestic items that trouble the majority of American families -- because the majority have been spared the constant weight of worrying about a son or daughter fighting in Iraq.

She spoke for ten minutes and left to nice applause. A half hour later, Obama entered and the crowd exploded in wild cheering. He spoke for half an hour, the war a footnote that rarely causes a coffee shop conversation. This, despite the fact that the most important act any president commits is to send our country to war and this president did exactly that and broke the Army while doing it.

But there have been only 201 casualties so far in all of Pennsylvania and merely 15 from Philadelphia. The heartache then is minimal and confined to those families who have kin in the volunteer Army or were assigned to a National Guard unit called for duty that turned out to be a lot more dangerous than filling sand bags along flood ravaged rivers.

Clinton, of course, would rather talk about Monica Lewinsky than her participation in the obscenity that is Iraq, a civil war, a religious war where we are locked in for many months unless we want to watch tribal genocide, a humanitarian disaster, on TV each evening if we depart too soon, too abruptly. But she voted for it because she wanted to and because she had a pollster -- a pollster! -- managing her campaign and combat was merely fodder for triangulation: her national security chops, her toughness, her inevitability. Too few of these dreary, predictable politicians who live in the world's most insecure town - Washington D.C., a large stage built on a sound bite - ever pause to think about what might happen to young men like Francis Xavier Kane.

"I did not know him, " the head of Father Judge High, Father Joe Campellone said. "And to answer your question, have we lost any graduates in Iraq?, thank God, no we have not although we have had quite a few graduates serve there so far."

The school -- Father Judge -- is a three story, tan brick building located at a curve in the road on Solly Avenue across from an athletic field and a series of low, flat-roofed apartment buildings. In front of the school there is a monument to the 27 killed in Vietnam with small American flags planted in a V in the thin, spring grass.

Francis X. Kane. KIA. Sunday, 4-21-1968. His mother, Catherine O'Neill Kane, passed away in January 2002. There was no answer at the door of the home where the Kanes once lived, where young Francis grew up, wanting to be a Marine, only to get his wish and die half a world away while politicians and generals hid the truth about a disaster that changed America forever.

So I spent the day looking for him, wondering about him and thinking about a few others as well; about Gennaro Pellegrini Jr, 31 years old, Francis Straub, 24, John Kulik, 35 and Nathaniel Detample who was only 19 -- all from a National Guard unit out of Philadelphia -- when they died together on the same day -- August 9, 2005 -- killed when a mine exploded in Bayji, Iraq.

Now, maybe you think you did not know any of these brave boys. Maybe you never thought about Francis Kane or any of the others whose days end in the dust of places like Baghdad or Fallujah. But the truth is we do know them. We just don't see them until it is too late and their names and faces are in the local paper, casualties of a war rarely mentioned by public people and fought only by the anonymous few.

Comments

[JeffKane]

How is it, of the 646, that you chose my cousin Frannie?

[capndad]

A masterly piece, Mr. Barnicle. We can so easily forget that for the families of the fallen, there is only one death that matters in this misbegotten war.

I was part of the Viet Nam War generation, although I did not serve. There has been much said about the similarities and the differences between the two wars, but curiously absent is any real dialog about the morality of this one.

My children have asked about life during that era and I have tried to describe for them the agony this country was going through over that war. We were in a war predicated on lies, and I believe our national soul was being torn apart because of it.

I do not see that response to this war, which is even more blatantly wrong.

[stryker]

I wonder what kind of memorials we will have for the fallen of the Iraq war. Remember when "Nightline" read off all the names of the dead on Memorial Day a couple of years ago. How much grief ABC got from the administration and its supporters. The local Philly papers and others got the same reaction whenever they printed the names and pictures of the dead soldiers. Bush has decreed that no pictures be taken of the dead coming into Dover Air Force base from Iraq. One free-lance photographer did just that and got canned. Let's not even talk about the treatment the wounded have gotten at Walter Reed, nor the cuts in VA benefits pushed by this administration which claims to support the troops. After the Lynch-Ramsey publicity fiascoes got outed, the Bushies never again tried to showcase our heroes, just the generals who knuckled under to the administration.
How will out fallen be remembered? Why do I believe very poorly.

[mariemburns]

Thank you, Mike. Your column reminds me of the controversey surrounding Ted Koppel who had the 'audacity' to picture & name the then hundreds who had fallen in Iraq. Some stations wouldn't even carry the Koppel show because it was too "sensational." The Bush Administration doesn't want us to remember our lost young men & women to the point they won't allow photographs of flag-draped coffins. And to the young sailor who says his government doesn't care about him, maybe he's right. But he should know that millions of people in this country DO care about him and all the others who have served. One of the ways I showed I cared was by voting for BARACK OBAMA for President, the one candidate who had the foresight to repudiate the war from the beginning.

[bfraser55]

The only network that still displays pictures and names was PBS's Newshour. I must admit that I haven't watched the Newshour in sometime but I thought it was a very nice tribute to the young women & men who have died in Iraq & Aphganastan.
I think it is shameless how the Bushes say they honor our troops but won't permit photos of the flag drapped caskets. The troops are only used for a photo op with this phoney pres & his gang.
Mike I was alive during the time of Vietnam and this feels the same to me except there is no nation wide protesting, even though the majority want this war stopped.We have already lost too many soldiers as it is. I wish or congress & press would grow a set of b-lls. It feels like NO ONE IS LISTENING.

[Dadoftwins]

HuffPost's Pick

It is indeed tragic that our young men are sacrificed in Iraq for something that will never happen, just as they were in Viet Nam-democarcy for people who haven't a clue or care less. I am 58 and still haunted by Viet Nam and the awful changes in America that war unleashed. Why weren't our political and military leaders haunted by the memory of Viet Nam when they decided to invade Iraq? Do we have collective amnesia? Are we just plain stupid? It is truly beyond fathoming that this war started and continues. I am a conservative who abandoned the Republican party a long time ago because the party lost its soul. Republicanism was supposed to be about non-interventionism and not about Wilsonian nation building. I hope the Republican party is destroyed for the damage they have done to this nation. Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich spoke out against this war from the right and the left and they were laughed at and publicly derided by the other candidates, to their shame. I used to have hope that we would return to a republic governed by the US constitution but I no longer believe that. I truly fear for the young people of this country and I hope they get smart and avoid joining the military at all costs. If I could give them any advice it would be to not join the war machine.

[Davwbaird]

I think we need to call it for what it is the "War crime" machine.

[knighthowl]

I wonder why this is a HuffPost's Pick. The first sentence is a misstatement. It is tragic that our soldiers are sacrificed in Iraq, but today they are not only young men, but also young women. How have you overlooked this fact? I am 59 and still haunted by Viet Nam, but did you serve there? I did and not willingly. And that is the reason our political leaders were not haunted by the memory of Viet Nam. Few of them served there, least of all those who called for this insanity. I saw this war as more foolish than Viet Nam with the added objection that it violates international law.

While I share your opposition to this war, I cannot agree with your advice to the young people of this country. My daughter is opposed to the war in Iraq, but she attends one of our service academies. She realizes that, while this war is wrong, our nation will always need a strong military to fight those battles that are necessary for our defense. Our country will suffer if reasonable people refuse to serve in the military. We have seen the damage done when unreasonable people control our government. The peril is as great when the military is dominated by fools.

[blytzd]

Sorry but not joining is perectly reasonable. Your daughter is braver/more foolhardy than I for I wouldn't risk joining the service to be a lacky for this administra­tion/corpo­ration, I don't want to be a victim of a rich man's "mistakes". These may be the words of a coward but I will take up arms if our country is under direct threat, but I won't risk my only life to steal another man's oil.

[agedcurmudgeon]

Mr. Barnacle has some very salient points here, but I'm curious how as a college graduate in 1965 he managed avoided service during the Vietnam War??

[DBracewell]

Don't forget those million dead Iraqis now.

This is as self-absorbed as it gets.

It continues:

"Clinton, of course, would rather talk about Monica Lewinsky than her participation in the obscenity that is Iraq, a civil war, a religious war where we are locked in for many months unless we want to watch tribal genocide, a humanitarian disaster, on TV each evening if we depart too soon, too abruptly."

Two things are clear.

The words "occupation" and "invasion" are missing and the responsibility for this God-awful genocide has been laid at the door of "the tribes". Not, for instance, at the door of the United States.

The other thing is that the United States is Barnacle's view of the IS as +preventing+ mass blood shed. On the contrary, it is encouraging it through divide and rule.

[cheerleaderBush]

OUTSTANDING POST!! I don't always agree with your reporting Mr. Barnicle, but you absolutely nailed this one!

I read a statistic the other day which drove home (to me) one of the primary reasons the US is still in Iraq - contractors (the Halliburtons, Bechtels, Blackwaters, etc) have made over $200B (in US tax dollars) off the Iraq occupation... and oh yea, $117 per barrel oil.

Had the US reinstated the draft in 2003, US troops would have been out of Iraq in 2004...and the US public would be much more concerned about the ongoing occupation of Iraq.

It is beyond tragic.

[goldcoastsailor]

I learned one thing well in my time in the US army. The government doesn't give a shit about your life, so you have to look out for yourself. This has been a valuable lesson.

[zagyzebra]

The only reason people aren't out in the streets, marching and protesting against this war en masse, is because there is no mandatory draft. If your neighbor who voted for Bush the second time around feared the very real possibility of his/her grandson getting drafted to serve in this ridiculous war, Bush would never have been re-elected a second term. I say bring back the draft, for war AND peace. In my opinion, if we can finance this kind of long-term war, then we can finance a long-term mandatory peace corpse where ANY of our nation's youth might be picked by lottery to serve peace-keeping missions throughout the world, no exceptions. This is why I support Obama: he's the only candidate who has mentioned the U.S. Peace Corpse as one of his main priorities on the war against terrorism and maintaining our national security.

[Lvm]

A few thoughts. The mainstream meida didn't care to know these boys; very few bothered to question the run-up to this illegal immoral war. Half of people who call themselves progressives are willing to vote for a person for President who gave George Bush permission to invade a country who did nothing to us, causing young soldiers, and innocent Iraqis to die needlessly.
Write all the poignant stories you want. Did you write one when Bush was revving up his war machine?

[LewisWalsh]

Thank you Mike. Every American should read your moving article. Too often we forget that which is most important in life. We become distracted by our quest for position, wealth or fame, all of which are usually quite fleeting. Most important, rewarding and permanent is the safety and nurturing that we provide our youngsters, so that they may grow strong and do the same for their young.

Unfortunately, the US has lost its religious and philosophical moorings so that, in the last half-century, wars have been fought at the whim of leaders and, without Constitutional authority. Most of those leaders have avoided personal military risk in the past and have been sure to keep their kin beyond any peril by inaugurating a mercenary military; something that is unknown in modern times in any other advanced country.

[breakingthrough]

I know I'm out of my league jumping into a discussion of a war I am far too old to participate in, attempting to join the voices of both the vets who have fought and those who have died. Thanks to you Mike Barnacle for giving me the forum I need to ask a question.
I am a grandmother now and have no children in active duty today. But if I had, I would have serious concerns about what the kind of toll the Iraq war is taking on our soldiers. I just watched a movie called "In the Valley of Elah." Can one of you young veterans tell me if this is an accurate portrayal of what is happening over there? Or merely an artistic rendition of anti-war propaganda?
I ask YOU, since we do not get honest answers from our administration, nor the Pentagon officials who conspired with it to hype the reasons for going in, nor even from our congress, who, in it's supreme wisdom has seen fit to hide many of the more unpleasant statistics, so that we can continue to pay the bill with billions of our tax dollars.
Forty years ago, JFK said, "...ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." You have done much. But I ask YOU to do one more thing for your country. Tell us the truth!

[JohnnieP]

The only reason Hillary voted in favor of the war was to cover her fat ass in case the Bushites were
right and the U.S. did go into Iraq and do their job and did return back home in a couple of weeks with
their mission having been accomplished with little American blood having been spilt and with hardly any American money being spent in the process. If that had been the case, HRC would have used her
yes vote as political leverage in her already planned future presidential campaign as an example of her political acumen, saying "While the other Democrats who voted 'Ney' on the war vote were wrong,
I voted 'yea', and was right." Hillary is nothing but a self-serving fat bastard.

[lainey]

Very important and eloquent article. For me, a citizen in Maryland--who doesn't know anyone serving in the military-- this election is about the war in Iraq; that is why I chose Senator Obama as my candidate. What can Senator Clinton say about the war? Not only did a pollster make her decision, she didn't even read the NIE. Combine that with her Bosnia untruth and the joke about it afterwards on Leno, and you do not have much of a commander-in-chief at all. What you have is someone who sent others to die while she calculated her move. This is what the media should cover. Senator Obama spoke out against the war while it was unpopular and clearly detailed the events that are now unfolding. Maybe he feels that he doesn't have to keep talking about it because it is part of who he is. I'm not sure. But of this I am certain...Mr. Obama demonstrated not just sound judgment, but a clear understanding of the world outside of America. He cared enough to say that entering this war would cost too many lives. This is the fundamental difference between these two candidates and the most important. Also, after spending time campaigning in PA, I discovered that the war is really at the heart of the election for them as well. People do care, you just have to weed through all of the other stuff to find it sometimes.