A Gold Star Mother’s story
EDITOR’S NOTE: Columnist John Ostwald submitted daily columns for the week prior to Veterans Day. The columns cover a variety of armed forces issues. The information in the columns came from interviews with veterans, family members, research and John’s perspective as an educator and veteran.
I met Leesa Philippon at trauma conference in Saratoga, New York sponsored by Soldier’s Heart during the summer of 2018. She lives in Conneticut. This is brief look at the life of her son and the challenges faced by her family.
“Larry was our first child and he was born on March 20, 1983 at Ft. Bragg NC. He used to tease us and say that it took two Soldiers to make a Marine. In August 1983 we moved to West Hartford to be near my husband’s parents to raise our family. Our daughter Emilee was born in 1987 and our son, Bryan was born in 1989. Like most families in West Hartford, we took advantage of the wonderful sports programs offered in town. Larry proved to be a natural born athlete excelling in soccer, baseball, football, basketball, hockey and lacrosse. As time in Sedgwick Middle School was coming to an end, Larry was recruited to be a hockey goalie for his freshman year at Conard High School . By his sophmore year, he was the starting goalie and retained that position through the rest of his high school career. In 2001, Larry was selected Hartford Courant Honorable Mention Allstate Goalie after leading Conard to the semi-finals of the Division I hockey tournament.
He first took up lacrosse in his freshman year and turned out to be a great, fast defenseman earning CCC West All League honors. Larry graduated Larry Philippon from Conard in 2001 and entered Central CT University in the fall.
On September 11, 2001, we sat in our library and watched the events of that horrific day unfold. Larry’s carefree, jovial attitude was replaced with a seriousness we had never before seen in him. He completed his year at Central and on May 19, 2003, Larry left for Parris Island to become a Marine. He embraced the thirteen weeks of bootcamp with joy and pride. His physical stamina and history of team sports gave him an edge that allowed him to excel at yet another athletic endeavor. We were very grateful when basic training ended and Larry had been chosen to serve at Marine Barracks 8th & I in Washington DC . At this duty station, Larry trained as a Guidon Bearer for the color guard. Among his duties, he served at Arlington National Cemetery and on body bearing duty (attending to the fallen Marines returning from Iraq ) at Dover AFB. He toured the United States with the Silent Drill team and he was the Marine Barracks Guidon Bearer in President Ronald Reagan’s funeral procession.
Throughout Larry’s time in DC he relentlessly requested to be reassigned to a unit that was going to Iraq. Finally, in October 2004, his request was honored. In January of 2005, he received his orders to report to Camp Lejeune. In the early morning hours on Feb. 20, I watched him board a bus and leave for war! Larry called home when he could and remarked on the beautiful sunrises and sunsets in Iraq . He told of the horrible conditions that the women and children of Iraq had to endure. He loved that he could make the children smile.”
See part two tomorrow.
Throughout Larry’s time inDChe relentlessly requested to be reassigned toaunitthat was going to Iraq.