A quiet farewell for a Marine Corps hero

[thedrifter]

Article ran : 04/06/2003
A quiet farewell for a Marine Corps hero
By MADISON TAYLOR

Marine Corps Sgt. Nicolas Hodson was buried Thursday at Coastal State Veterans Cemetery. It was likely a quiet setting with family members and close friends in attendance. That?s how it should be. It?s how the family, who live in Richlands, wanted it. In fact, they pleaded for it.



Some listened. Others did not. The Daily News did not attend. In situations like these it is better to believe that no means no.



It?s often the minority opinion. In this case, some members of the media camped out across the street from House of Deliverance Church in Richlands, where a service for the 22-year-old field wireman from Camp Lejeune was held. At Coastal Carolina State Veterans Cemetery, the family was able to gain privacy behind closed gates while the media watched from a distance without intruding. This was accomplished with the help of some Marines who are, themselves, part of an extended family.



That?s how it works. Once a Marine, generally, always a Marine.



And a fallen Marine is usually always a hero. Sgt. Nicolas Hodson is a fallen Marine ? one of the growing list of heroes in the U.S. war with Iraq. He died in a vehicle accident at 3 a.m. on March 22 while riding in a convoy over the desert terrain indigenous to southern Iraq. His vehicle swerved to miss an object in the road and turned over. Three were injured.



But Hodson did not survive. He left behind a son and young pregnant wife. Michelon Williams Hodson of Richlands is expecting his child this summer.



He was a native of Smithville, Mo., who was remembered fondly by his high school principal. He was a promising Marine, already a sergeant at the age of 22. He lost his mother to cancer a year ago and became a part of the Williams family in Onslow County. It is a family now coping with an incomprehensible loss.



Few other details are available, and no more are really needed for those outside the immediate family. Things get mixed up in a combat zone. That?s really all most need to know.



Sometimes things get mixed up over here, too.



On the day the shaken family buried Sgt. Nicolas Hodson, ironically, just a handful of miles away, President Bush boarded Marine One for the start of his trip back to the White House after visit to Camp Lejeune, where he met with the families of Marines killed in the war with Iraq.



Those closest to Sgt. Nicolas Hodson did not see the president?s visit. They had more pressing matters to tend to at the time ? like making sure he could rest in peace while his family reserved some peace of mind.



It turned out to be tougher than it sounds.



And that?s a pity because Sgt. Nicolas Hodson and the growing list of heroes in the war with Iraq are fighting for a multitude of issues. But the right to rest in peace should not be one of them.







Madison Taylor is managing editor of The Daily News. Contact him at mtaylor@jdnews.com.




Sempers,

Roger