Pressing Issues: Giving a name and a face to the fallen

By: Greg Mitchell Bill Mitchell never expected his boy to make "Doonesbury," let alone "Nightline." He was happy enough that his son Mike had made a man of himself in the U.S. Army, while not losing his compassion and fun-loving nature. But now, this spring, here is the face of Michael W. Mitchell, staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, in The Washington Post, on "Nightline" and on the front page of USA Today, his name plastered all over other newspapers and, this past Sunday, etched in a panel of Garry Trudeau's comic strip.

What this means, of course, is that Mike Mitchell is a victim of the war in Iraq, shot by a sniper on April 4, dead at the age of 25, after volunteering to take control of a tank's machine gun during an ambush in Sadr City.

What does his father, a 53-year-old Army veteran who lives in Atascadero, Calif., think of the "Doonesbury" mention and similar honors, which some pro-warriors in the press have denounced? "I like seeing the names out there," he told me last week, six days before Trudeau's tribute. "Otherwise, they are just unknown soldiers."

Surprisingly, he took it further: "I would welcome printing the name of anyone who has died due to this war. Is an American death worth more than the death of an Iraqi, an Australian, or a Spaniard? I would bet you the grieving parents of those who were killed could straighten out some people in America who only think our loved ones are important! These deaths are the real cost of war, and every single one should be given the honorable mention it deserves."

Bill didn't require the death of his son to oppose this war, however. He carried a sign during a March 20 peace protest near his home that read, "Bring my son home now."Less than three weeks later, Mike would come home, in a coffin, with a flag draped over it.

I met Bill Mitchell (no relation) in an odd but appropriate way. When I wrote a column comparing the Iraq war with Vietnam on April 8 ? then a bit of a stretch, now far from far-fetched ? I ended it with a tribute to the Americans lately killed in action, using a list The New York Times carries every day (this was before naming the dead became fashionable). Among the names: Michael W. Mitchell. Someone apparently forwarded this column to Bill, who was in Germany, looking after Mike's fiancee, Bianca. Bill wrote me a note thanking me for attaching a name to the number that was his son.

We began corresponding. When Tami Silicio's now-famous photo of caskets waiting to be flown home from Kuwait appeared in The Seattle Times, breaking the Pentagon ban on such shots, Bill told me he was positive the body of his son was in one of them: The dates lined up. Later, he sent me a letter he'd just mailed to the Seattle Times, backing what Silicio and the newspaper had done. I wrote a column about that, and when that got a strong response, I directed a few media inquiries to Bill.

Then Bill sent me a copy of a letter he had mailed to Mike's commanding officer, full of pride, gratitude, and anger. One line jumped out at me, as Bill described the "irony" that his son "was killed by the very people that he was liberating. This is insanity!" He added: "I am having a major problem with being OK with his death under these circumstances and I really do not believe that Iraq, the world, or the lives of his family and friends are better due to his death." One can only imagine the pain between those lines.

I wrote an online column about that, too, describing it as a motivation for my urging at least one major U.S. newspaper to break ranks and call for a phased withdrawal from Iraq ? instead of sending more troops, the favored position. That got a lot of response as well, including the honor of being denounced by Rush Limbaugh.

Bill's now back in California. His son's empty military casket is still in his garage. When Bill was out of the country, he had to refuse offers to appear on major TV shows, and he now finds that interest in Mike's story has passed. "It's as if I missed the window of opportunity," he said. Now the media focuses on more sensational war news while "ignoring those who are still dying every day."

But Bill also takes a longer view: "Someone needs to take a step back and analyze what has happened in Iraq over the last 14 months. We are now at war with those very people that we set out to liberate. I just keep asking people how they would be acting if Iraqi tanks were running up and down the streets of America."



Donations to the Mike Mitchell Memorial Fund can be sent c/o Santa Lucia Bank, 7480 el Camino Real, Atascadero, CA 93422.