Today I was doing some research on Jim Ellifritt, one of our ministers who is also a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves. A Google search led me to a page where his son, also a reservist (while Jim Sr. was in Afghanistan, Jim Jr. was in Iraq), commented on a fellow soldier who was killed in Iraq. Army Staff Sgt. David J. Weisenburg, 26 (right) died from a roadside bomb on September 13, 2004.

On the Fallen Heroes Memorial site, people can comment on soldiers who have died serving their country. In browsing through the comments about Weisenburg, I came across one signed simply "Dad."

Today is David's birthday. He should be turning 30, I wonder on days like today what he would be like if he had made it back. What would he be doing now, where would he be working, living? How the war would have affected him? There is something special about turning 30, but maybe I feel even more strongly about that, because he never will. I will grow older, his mother will grow older, his brothers and sister, but David will forever be 26 and this changes so many things.

His brothers and sister have all met someone special, gotten married and brought more life into our family. There are 2 more sisters, another brother, a granddaughter and soon a grandson. But we will never get to embrace into our family that someone special in David's life. This is another loss that no one tells you about when they come knock on your door.

But, I think that I will change my mind, today IS David's birthday, today David IS 30. He IS, and forever will be my son whom I love with a passion that I can not explain. I walk tall and proud because I have been blessed with such a special man for a son. Time and a distance that cannot be traveled separate us for now, but I will see him again and we will celebrate together. Until then, Happy Birthday my son.

Dad

Here is a newspaper article about David's death. He served four years as a chaplain's assistant, same as my Dad in the 1950s.