Last night I was helping Dad get dinner ready and he was a bit agitated about something and seemed in a hurry. I asked why and he said he needed to get to the funeral home after dinner.
I asked who had died and he said "Bob Hoffmanson" and mentioned he was a former Delaware City Council member. Then it hit me -- "wait a minute," I said, "do you mean Bob Hoffmanson or Bob Hoffman's Son". And then he said Bob Hoffman's Son -- had died in Iraq. A sinking feeling came over me. I asked what his son's name was and it is Justin -- who I knew from when I was going to church at Delaware Grace Brethren. Justin was in the youth group when I was a youth leader there. I was just stunned. Having been in England, I hadn't kept in touch with very many people and didn't know what everyone was up to.
Justin was a Marine Sgt who re-enlisted to go back to Iraq -- the news station has a good writeup of him and also a video clip of his family.
It's so sad -- he's got two younger brothers, Tyler and Travis (who I knew a bit better than I knew Justin) and Justin was serious about a girl who he joked about proposing to as soon as he got off the plane to come home.
Please pray for his family -- and for the other Marines still over there -- and especially for my friend Marcie's hubby Tony who is about to be deployed at the beginning of September.
Posted by kristen at August 13, 2005 2:41 PM