Marine Corps Moms: PFC Halvorson's final trip home

Marine Corps Moms: October 17, 2004 - October 23, 2004 Archives

October 21, 2004

PFC Halvorson's final trip home



Pfc. Andrew Halverson, 19, of Grant, Wis. died Oct 9 as result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Halverson was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. Bridget Warns, mother of a deployed Marine, was a passenger on the plane that carried him home from the country he served:



“Because of my job, I travel a good deal. Last Thursday night I was returning from Albuquerque via Minneapolis and was one of the last passengers to board. As I was getting on the plane, a Marine in full dress uniform was coming up the jetway stairs from the luggage storage area of the airplane. I thought that was very odd. A few minutes later, the captain came out of the cockpit to thank everyone for flying Northwest. As he was finishing, a flight attendant told him that there was a Marine on board escorting a fallen Marine home. I was stunned when I heard this and at that time didn’t realize who it was. A gentleman sitting across the aisle from me immediately offered his seat in first class to the Marine escort. I couldn’t say anything since I was crying so hard.



As soon as we were airborne, the captain got on the loud speaker and announced the situation to everyone. He had to stop several times before he could continue. He asked that we all stay seated after landing until the Marine escort had deplaned. I have never experienced anything like this in all of my years of travel. I just wanted the parents to know that their son was brought back home by a plane full of people that knew of the precious cargo they were privileged to escort…and by a Marine mom who wept openly for their terrible loss.



They have been in my thoughts and prayers constantly.”



I cannot imagine how painful it is to learn that a beloved son has died in battle and my prayer, like that of all Marine parents, is that I will never find out. But if it happened, I would hope that a Marine Mom like Bridget Warns would be on the plane for his final ride home.

Posted by Deb at 01:39 AM