MILWAUKEE — The mother of a Wisconsin soldier who died in Iraq says she was “ecstatic” when Barack Obama during Friday’s debate mentioned the bracelet she gave him in honor of her son. Tracy Jopek of Merrill said Sunday she was honored that Obama remembered her son, who was killed in 2006 by a roadside bomb. She said Obama’s mention was appropriate because he was responding after Sen. John McCain said a soldier’s mother gave him a bracelet.
“I’ve got a bracelet, too, from Sgt. — from the mother of Sgt. Ryan David Jopek, given to me in Green Bay,” Obama said. “She asked me, ‘Can you please make sure another mother is not going through what I’m going through?’ No U.S. soldier ever dies in vain, because they’re carrying out the missions of their commander in chief.”
Jopek said Obama’s comment rightfully suggested there’s more than one viewpoint on the war.
