Note: This article was originally published on Dec. 7, 2004. We’re re-posting it now for our tribute to Colorado’s Fallen.
Grand Junction – Michael Bear Shackelford didn’t have to go to
Iraq.
The 25-year-old Army staff sergeant, with what his rabbi terms “a
heart of gold,” was assigned to stay at Fort Carson after serving
in Kosovo and Korea. But he volunteered for war duty when his squad
was sent to Iraq. Shackelford, who joined the Army seven years ago
just out of high school, went out of a sense of family loyalty
because he considered that squad “his kids,” his father said.
On Nov. 28, Shackelford died in Ramadi, Iraq, “protecting his
kids” during an attack while they were on patrol, Andy Shackelford
said as he stood near his son’s gunmetal gray coffin under a sky
the same color Monday.
About 250 people packed in and around an outdoor kiosk at the
Veterans Memorial Cemetery of Western Colorado to honor
Shackelford, the first casualty of the Iraq war to be buried at the
2-year-old cemetery. They shivered and sniffled in the biting cold
as taps was played, a military helicopter flew overhead and the
flag on Shackelford’s coffin was ceremoniously folded.
Rabbi Robert Hansen of Cañon City noted that “we as old soldiers
are now turning our young sons over as the next generation.”
Shackelford’s family, covering their heads with the yarmulkes of
their faith, sat at the heart of the crowd close to the
white-gloved honor guard from Fort Carson and a local veterans’
honor group that surrounded the casket.
“He impacted not only those people here,” Army Chaplain Gregory
Borden told them, “but also those folks in Iraq.”
Sgt. Shackelford’s mother, Nancy Shackelford, patted the folded
flag in her lap as her husband briefly addressed the crowd, which
was sprinkled with military uniforms from a number of wars.
Andy Shackelford, a Vietnam veteran, pointed to the folded flag,
saying, “As soldiers we bleed on that. We die for it. We respect
it.”
One of Shackelford’s younger brothers, 24-year-old Micah
Shackelford, was in Army uniform at the funeral. He is on leave
from Fort Campbell, Ky., where he is training for what could be
duty in Iraq.
The service was also attended by state Sen. Ron Teck and outgoing
U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, who addressed the crowd.
Maj. Gen. Mason Whitney, adjutant general for the state of
Colorado, presented the family with a Colorado flag on behalf of
Gov. Bill Owens.
Andy Shackelford said McInnis told him to expect a call from
President Bush sometime in the next 48 hours.
Before Shackelford’s casket was towed away from the service by a
Korean War-era Jeep for burial, Micah Shackelford stepped apart
from the crowd and asked that the following message be relayed:
“Remember us while we’re alive,” he said, “and can still receive
the thanks that we deserve.”
