European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 4, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse In love we Pray for Dodge r. Powell Jan 2. 1963 Tampa Florida Usa t feb 26 1991 Kuwait much i wonder is unanswered so i try to find out a a Why. But if i must yes i will fight. And if i must. I la die. A a sgt. Dodge Powell. Dec. 14, 1990, saudi 18by Vince Crawley Nurnberg Bureau from tears to anger to cynicism Young Bride has to Deal with Gamut of emotions sgt Dodge Powell s grave is beneath a Plain wooden Cross in a a German country cemetery 5,000 Miles from where he was bom. A a a Quot a a aaa Hedi Powell. His 18-year-old War widow visits his. Graveside every week she says he died fighting a War he did t believe in. J a a. A a a Quot people Tell me he did Quot something to make the world. More secure now,11 she said at the dining room table of their apartment one of these Small partly decorated places where newlyweds live. I Don t see that i mean Saddam Hussein is to still kills people. A a a a. Her husband a 28-year-Oid army combat Engineer was shot during an All night rainstorm on Tho lion lines of Iraq and was buried on March 12 in Lohnau Germany -. Hedi s Hometown. They had been married.98.Days. A a her Muscles still involuntarily tremble when she talks \ about him. Sometime she cries add leaves the room. she laughs often she is angry cynical. A Quot we had so Many plans Quot she said. Quot and we really a wanted to make our life together and havea family. I have to get it m my heart and in my heart that those plans can never come True Quot a. -. A for How she endures the Peculiar life of an army Bride who knows her husband will never come Home. She lives in an apartment supposed to be theirs and a in an 18-year-old s version of mourning a wears a Black. A leather jacket that was to be his Welcome Home Gilt. She keeps his funeral lag folded in a Pillow Iko Triangle in the Back window of his car. Beside it is a framed 8-by-10 snapshot of him the night before their wedding. He s making a Drunken lace in the picture and it still makes Her laugh. A Quot v a a. A two weeks after the picture was taken a he was in saudi Arabia /. She also checks her Mailbox at his old battalion the wartime postal system was so slow that she was still getting letters from him two months after he died. A. A now with the soldiers coming Home from the persian Gulf and banners welcoming them Hedi does t go onto Post As often As she used to. Quot Quot the wives All talk about their husbands and i m tired of hearing it Quot she said. _ / Hedi works with emotionally disturbed children Ina a Schweinfurt it think that can help them Quot she said. Quot because they need the help. They need but she s on the verge of quitting her Job. Her students play War games pretending to Sii oot each other and she i can it handle the rat a Tab fat sounds that they make _ a Dodge was killed by machine gun fire and kids a have plastic machine guns Quot she said. Quot and when you. A Tako those away they do it with wooden . Her scrapbooks contain snapshots newspaper articles poems and wrinkled letters of condolence from politicians and generals. She had wadded them up and. Thrown them away a sometimes unread a until a. Friend convinced her to save them Quot i got a letter like everybody else Bush Quot she explained Quot it started Bambara and i Are deeply depressed. -. Deeply depressed. I got this letter. I went Back Home i read this letter. I turned on the to and he a was on the to fishing. You know having fun. And in a Reading that he s deeply depressed yeah. up. The president would do better to Send a few honest. Lines of respect she said rather than a full Page of a insincere sympathy about someone he has never met. A a Hodwig poof left Hedi at her husband s grave in Wolhau a Germany. Above the powells were married november 20 at the Bamberg City Hall. A amps Vince Crawley she in t mad at the army a soldiers even the generals do what they re told Hedi said a but she is angry with the politicians who sent Dodge Powell off to join the other 206 husbands and wives that the Pentagon. Says will never come Home from the liked the outdoors and played soccer on a German neighbourhood team he had been a re enlistment a sergeant at his battalion in Bamberg Hedi said but he. Did t like the office paperwork. He wanted to work with his hands a a. So he took a Transfer to one of the line companies. Joining the. Squad that was destined to be machine gunned in Southern Iraq. A j he also liked he was in civilian. A clothes lie wore a tattered greek fishing hat that was practically his trademark it appears in almost every photograph of him. And inevitably his car was a Dodge. A1990 Shadow. A ,. Underneath though he was less than Happy Hedi said. His Mother died when he was,7, and he had a hard time accepting his fathers now wife. He tided with drugs when he was 14 and growing up in Hollywood fla., just North of Miami he was t close to his family except Fortis sister. A a y a he joined the army when he was 18, did a. Tour in. / Schweinfurt got out and went to College. Two years later a in 1988, he was disillusioned with civilian life missed. Germany and re enlisted for an in Bamberg. The following april on a Friday night he met 16-year-old Hodwig Beck at the music scene a dance club a Tew Miles from her Hometown _., Quot i just looked at him a few times and he looked at me Quot Hedi recalled. Quot we smiled at each other then i went Back to the bar. And my Girlfriend came up and said a let me introduce you to i was like who and she introduced me to a a a a a he gave her a ride Home that night and came Back Toher parents Arm the next morning to help with the chores a a a a. A a at first her parents liked him. He was a Friendly Guy who a spoke Good German a a As time went on however Hedi broke the news that she had fallen in love her Mother she said kicked. Dodge out of the House and told him Quot my daughter does t go out with a from then on. Hedi said their lives were they got engaged the following april on anniversary of when they met. Quot Why do you love me Quot he asked her one. Night. His voice Hedi recalled sounded As though he r surprised that anyone could love him. Quot i told him ,. Because he is him Quot she said and he looked at me and / he started a a a a a they planned for an october wedding but Dodge _ did t get his birth certificate sent from the states in time so they were married on nov 20 eleven Days later he went to War. U. A. A Quot baby Quot he wrote to her from the desert Quot i be never americans and germans paid their respects at sgt. Dodge Powell a funeral in Lohnau. Hassfurter to Blott had much in life,.and i be never wanted too Many things. I really did no Teare if. or nol. But then. Something happened my whole attitude a. You1&Quot. Hedi does t like it when people say that her husband _ died a hero s death Quot. She tells them that he did t believe a in what he was fighting for a. A a. Quot Quot for me he is a hero Quot she said. Quot not because he died in the Gulf War for me. To was a hero for chg Way he. Was a a he was afraid to Tell people what he thought about a the War. A a. \ -. Quot -. A Quot i hate this place tie wrote to tier Quot i could t care less Lor these people i Don t want Todie for this land or this Oil. I just want to come Home and to with you Quot a a his sister. Nancy Eberhard. Had written to Tutti saying a she was proud to have Sorn Oono trom her family in Tho Quot a Gulf Quot defending tie country Quot Quot now i get a very Good Chance to tie wrote Back. On Jan 25, a month before he Vas shot Quot i would have a been Back in Hollywood with my new Wiroj Jor 30 Days of vacation on aboulthe5th do february i would have flown a to Charleston,.s.c.picked car port and a driven Home Don t kid ourself Sis. We Aren t a defending our country we Are defending National. A interests,1 in simple . A. It a pfc Aaron Hov Ard was a Friend to Toj Tai Hedi and. A a Dodge. A 20-year-Cild from Battle greek Mic tie was in. Dodge s squad. Before they Quot shipped out. Hedi said tie a had supper w i a the every night and to a two soldiers were Grov ing even closer put in Trie deceit a they died together there when he died sgt Dodge Powell had a poem in his pocket that his wife had written tale one night in january a sitting up atone in their. Opar1menti Quot a a Quot Quot Quot the sadness inside of me glides Over me like a bad. A. Quot. A a. A continued on Page 16 Page 14 the stars and stripes saturday May 4 199�?Tl the stars and stripes Page 15
