 The Northeast Kingdom has lost another young soldier to war.
Yesterday, in Hardwick, Sgt. Tristan Southworth was laid to rest with full military honors, following his funeral, which was attended by about 1400 people, at Hazen Union School, from where he had graduated in 2007 after joining the Guard in 2006. Tristan was a three-sport standout athlete. He was promoted to sergeant posthumously and awarded a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and Combat Infantryman Badge for his service.
Boston Globe:
Southworth, 21, of Walden, died Aug. 22 while trying to rescue a fellow soldier in a prolonged gun battle with insurgents who had attacked his unit using small arms and rocket propelled grenades in Paktika Province, about 12 miles west of the border with Pakistan.
In Tristan's own words:
(Here he speaks of a Congressional Medal of Honor received by his cousin, a medic in Vietnam killed throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of soldiers around him.)
"This is important to me because of what it means. My cousin got this award for jumping on a grenade and saving his fellow men while operating on them in Vietnam. He was one of the few medics to achieve this award during that conflict. I don't have and respect for any person higher than the respect I have for him."
"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, sed dulcius pro patria vivere, et dulcissimum pro patria bibere. Ergo, bibamus pro salute patriae."
Godspeed, young sergeant. Thank you for your service.
I have nothing further. |
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