Pfc. Kara Underwood gives her sister Kate a hug. Kate, who promised to keep her big sister supplied in toiletries and goodies while in Iraq, went a step further and created a program in her hometown of Birdsboro, Pa., that raises money and ships donated items to her sister’s fellow troops in Mosul. (Courtesy of Kate Underwood)
Two hundred forty one died that day.
Oct. 23, 1983.
Among them, a feisty 20-year-old Marine who, given the chance to live and marry, “would have had a slew of children. I’m convinced of it,” said his sister, Deborah Knipple Peterson.
Peterson, who was 28 when Cpl. Jim Knipple was killed in the bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, grieved along with fathers, mothers, spouses and children.
But at the time, there were no “siblings only” groups who might have helped her grieve and heal with a perspective only siblings could know, she said.
Might have things been different? She wonders.
Today, with America’s young troops at war, countless of those left behind at home have started groups and programs and efforts to make life better — be it for themselves or for the troops in the combat zones.
Peterson, who teamed with a former Marine to give grieving siblings a peer group of their own, is among them.
Here are a few of the stories.
A league of their own
Modeling a program after the American Gold Star Mothers, especially popular during the World War II era, Marine veteran Bill Kibler launched the Web site www.GoldStarSiblings.com to give brothers and sisters of servicemembers killed in combat a venue in which to connect with each other.
“Mothers have other children and there’s nothing really for those children,” said Kibler, 41, who served in Beirut in 1982-83 but was not there during the bombing. “Even fathers are feeling left out.”
He has had a number of hits on the Web site, but no one yet willing to “take the plunge” to post their thoughts, their feelings, their words.
“I’m getting 30 and 40 hits a week since it started two months ago, but not getting a lot of input,” Kibler said. “But I’m not discouraged.”
He turned to Peterson to be one of the first to post a tribute to her brother.
Peterson said she’s happy to oblige.
“Twenty years later, I don’t want people to forget Jim,” she said. “I don’t want people to forget he was a human, with dreams and aspirations that were taken away from him. He’s a hero.”
It’s all in the wrist
Whether he’s a patriot first or an entrepreneur first matters not to Steve Cloward.
He just wants folks to buy his plastic wristbands, similar to the yellow ones made popular by cyclist Lance Armstrong in support of cancer research.
The bands publicly show support for troops fighting in the Middle East, he said, and financially support their families back home.
In October, Cloward began selling the plastic red, white, blue, camouflage and red-white-blue marbled wristbands to anyone who would shell out $1, with proceeds going to the Armed Forces Relief Trust, an organization run by volunteers who are former military and designed to help troops and families in time of need and emergencies.
To date, his organization, Bands for Freedom, has donated $100,000 to AFRT.
“I picked AFRT because I felt it was the best way to help servicemen and women and their families, and the main reason was because 100 cents on the dollar we give them passes on to the troops, with nothing pulled out” to cover expenses such as administrative costs, he said.
A majority of the colored bands sell through the Web site, www.bandsforfreedom.com.
A star(s) is born
When Kate Underwood’s sister, who happens to double as her best friend, was shipped off to Iraq in August, the 18-year-old high school student promised to periodically send Pfc. Kara Underwood goodies and toiletries.
She figured fellow soldiers would need the same care and attention.
So in September, Kate and four friends started raising money and collecting goods to ship to Mosul, Iraq, where Kara Underwood is serving.
The program grew, and today about 300 students and some 50 teachers from Daniel Boone Middle and High schools in Birdsboro, Pa., contribute to Kate’s program she calls STARS, Stand Together and Raise Support.
Collection boxes scattered throughout the small town, about 20 minutes southeast of Reading, Pa., are filled weekly with items troops need and want while serving in Iraq.
Her Web site contains a wish list of items.
“She’s my best friend, and [the separation] has been really hard for me,” Kate said. “She’s my sister, so she has to be proud of me, no matter what I do. But I think with STARS, it really just makes her proud.”
The program will continue “as long as we have troops over there,” said the graduating senior.
Her departure from the school this summer won’t mean an end to the program. She has already picked successors.
