Family Mourns Local Soldier Killed in Iraq
posted 10:42 pm Thu January 17, 2008 - Oakton, Va.
For some, the death of a soldier in Iraq is one more number in a grim set of statistics. But when you look in the eye of a 12-year-old boy who just lost his big brother, you remember that the numbers can also cause mind-numbing pain.
His father teaches Shakespeare at Chantilly High School and says lessons about life and death will be far more painful. "We were very close. I IM'ed him every day. I e-mailed him every day. And he would sometimes call me in the middle of class and I would say to my students, 'Oh, I've got to take this call. This is my son calling from Iraq.' He didn't know when he was calling."
It's a death that makes even a family who attends weekly McLean Bible Church service question faith. "I put him in God's hands every day and i just expected god to do his part of the bargain. But you know we can't control what happens," said Vicki Sharrett.A sibiling devoted to his brothers, now 12- and 18-years-old, Dave went to Iraq saying he wanted to tell his children stories they could be proud of. He was the kind of guy who saw a handicapped boy at a concert and moved him to the front row. Now his mother grieves the son who is gone and the grandchildren who will never be.
"I'm just aghast that he's not coming home. I knew he would come home. I just felt that. He told me he would and I believed that. I just believed that."
Dave's mother said that as a parent, you'd lay down your life for your child. She said the thing she liked most about having three sons is knowing they'd do the same for her. Instead, her son laid down his life for his country.
Latest Comment on Family Mourns Local Soldier Killed in Iraq
crabtree3174
10:03 am on 01/19/08
Mr. Sharrett,
I remember you at Langley High you would call me Don Treecrab. You put a smile on so many faces not only with your English Lit but with your everyday funny comments. Dave Kennedy and Hadi aka Tree Shrew and I still talk and we talk of the good times. You are good man, Charlie Brown especially out of high school. I remember you had good stories to go along with teaching class and some those stories involved your son (10 yrs old) at the time. Thanks for being a positive good teacher in the real world. Keep your head up and be proud of everything you have given to individuals, directly or indirectly.
"Keep on rockin' in the free world"
Don Crabtree Crabtree3174@gmail.com
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