Brigadier General Gerald Lang, Deputy Commanding General of the 34th Infantry (Red Bull) Division with the Multi-National Division - South in Iraq, read the Times’ Veterans Day issue and the story of SPC Nick Webb who takes care of fallen Heroes’ remains.

BG Lang wrote to the Times and sent photos to show the loyalty and respect of the soldiers serving in Iraq.

*******

Soldiers pay their last respects to SPC Drevnick.

“Tough duty for young kids like that. Attended more Hero flight ramp ceremonies than I care to remember so far this tour. A lot of time it’s just the leadership because, as you stated in the article, we try to get the bodies flown out as soon as we can, normally four to six hours.

“So many that I’ve attended have been in the middle of the night. Our Hero flights all go out by helicopter to one of the larger bases (Adder or Balad) where they are placed on the fixed wing planes that go to Dover, Delaware.

“Your story brought this back to me as if it was yesterday.

 Hundreds of soldiers with the 32nd Brigade Combat Team headquartered in Madison, Wisc. turned out for the 6 a.m. Hero flight ramp ceremony for SPC Drevnick.

“We were pretty touched a few months ago at one of our Hero flights at one of our bases that is occupied by Wisconsin soldiers seen here wearing the Red Arrow patch of the 32nd Brigade Combat Team headquartered in Madison, Wis.

They are paying their final respects as they bring the remains of one our Minnesota soldier’s to the helicopter for the last time. As stated in your article, these Hero Ceremonies provide the soldiers an opportunity to recognize the lives of their departed comrades when we load the deceased soldier for transport to Germany in preparation for the Hero Flight back home to the U.S.

“These Wisconsin Red Arrow Warriors as we call them, made us pretty proud that day with the number of soldiers who turned out on that base to honor Specialist Paul Drevnick, one of our Minnesota soldiers killed in the rocket attack last July.

“We had Drevnick in a medivac helicopter right after the rocket attack trying to get him down to Kuwait hospital but the medics were losing him so they landed at this base right on the Kuwait/Iraq border that has all Wisconsin soldiers on it.

“It’s a good medical facility there and could provide better emergency care than they could in the helicopter when his condition was deteriorating. These Wisconsin medics worked hard all night trying to save Drevnick, but lost him in the middle of the night.

“These young Wisconsin medics refused to leave his side all night until we arranged for another helicopter to come in and take his body away. This happened at 0630 in the morning and although most of the soldiers on the base did not even know what was going on that night, they got a hold of just about everyone to be at the ramp at 0630 that morning to pay their respects to Drevnick when his body was loaded on the helicopter.

“Also, it was the medics who worked on him and stayed with him all night that requested to personally escort his body to the flight line that next morning.

“Tough business we are in, but there’s a lot of love and respect for each other.

“I think the reverence these Wisconsin soldiers showed that day was beyond what we normally see and had as much to do about two neighboring Midwestern states of deployed National Guard soldiers as it did fellow Comrades in Arms in the U.S. Army.”