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The father: Bill Engel

By Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 15, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Bill Engel holds a flag display case with the medals his son, Mark, pictured at right, earned. Engel says talk of surrender disgusts him.

Photo by Javier Manzano / The Rocky

Bill Engel holds a flag display case with the medals his son, Mark, pictured at right, earned. Engel says talk of surrender disgusts him.

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The father: Bill Engel Son Mark, a Marine lance corporal, was injured July 6, 2004, in Al Anbar province. He died July 21, 2004.* Age: 70 * Occupation: Retired businessman * Home: Aurora

You couldn't herd Mark. He was a maverick. There was no lassoing him in. He called from Grand Junction and said, "Dad, I enlisted in the Marine Corps.' 9/11 had occurred, and we hadn't gone to war, but we were sure going to war. I guess he wanted some purpose. I said, 'Mark, we have other options.' This is not what we wanted for our son.

I said, 'OK, Mark, you've done this, you're going. Just do me a favor - don't be a hero. I want you back.' Sure enough, he comes back a hero. He was in a reconnaissance company, in light- armored vehicles, always on patrol. He was in that first wave and made it all the way up to Baghdad.

We didn't know there would be second deployments. We got him back, and he had some harrowing experiences in the first deployment. It was getting to the point where he had started planning his college education. When he got the second deployment, I had a very sinking feeling.

It was a call we never talked about getting. They told us Mark was hit and that he's serious, but not very serious, so we sighed a sigh of relief. Within hours, the doctors in Iraq told us he's on a transport to Germany, and he's very serious. They flew us there to meet him. We got there, and here's my baby, my 6-foot baby, he's wrapped up like a mummy. He got hit by one of those improvised explosive devices. He had burns over 70 percent of his body. Within two hours, we were on a transport plane on our way to Brooke Army Medical Center to try to save his life. They said it was remarkable that he made it through that trip. Two weeks later, he died. It was the day before he turned 22.

Talk of surrender disgusts me. People who would just walk away and surrender would make my contribution worth nothing, and that's my son's life. I do believe we've got to win there. Not only for all the lives lost and the money spent. We've got to win there for the future, for my sons and my grandchildren. We have to win for them. Not just for Mark.

Comments

  • March 15, 2008

    10:01 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Drax21 writes:

    Mr. Engel, how many more young men must die in honor of your son? I am sorry for your loss and I can't possibly imagine your grief. But asking hundreds of other families to sacrifice their sons does not add value to your "contribution." That's simply irrational.

    You say that talk of "surrender" disgusts you. Sounds like you've been listening to neocon radio. We "surrendered" to hysteria after 9/11 and we "surrendered" to the cumulative weight of the hundreds of lies told by George Bush so that he might terrorize us into authorizing his murderous scheme. Then we behaved like cowards when we began to torture and kill anyone who looked like our enemies.

    Five years later, the blood lust has begun to fade. It is not surrender to recognize that we made a mistake. It's time to fix what we broke, to punish the guilty and BRING OUR BOYS HOME.

    I'm sorry Mr. Engel, but I will not give you my son's life so that you may validate your son's death.