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one recognized it. Someonesaid, 'Hey, there's a ' corporal that needs to-be sergeant,'" Cotnoir STAFFWRrrnR said, speaking on 'asatellite phone from Iraq: ,.'~'Jt!snice." , Sgt. Daniel B, Cotnoir tells his crew riot to Before he was activated in January, the 32think about- how the soldier died JUst focus on the task at.hand, ~ , , year-old reservist was running Racicot Funeral Home-in Lawrence With his father, David 1. Cot"Start at then- feet and work your way to the noir, , ' head and just make note of what you're looktng One of the toughest tasks that David, 56, said, at," he advises Marines who are havinga hard his son has had was retrieving tbe bodies of four . time in mortuary affl$'S. "Don't look back at the secunty contractors who 'were beaten and \ whole body." , burned, Two of them were also banged from a , This year, the Marine Corps createda unit bridge in Fhllujah on March 31. dedicated toretnevtng.easualnes, a task' th~ , ''Dan'cut them down," lie said, "That's how I Army used to handlefor'them, At the heart of this 'unit is Cotnoir, an experienced funeral direc- found out, where he was because he couldn't tell , me at first." . _ ' , tor from LaWrence. BecaUSe of his contributions Bothrfather and son were displeased with the to,the unit, he was promoted this ;week from corporal to sergeant Please see MARINE. Page 2 "Obyiously, I've put my effort futo it, but some-

By AIix-QUiNoNEs

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Same spottheie guys just got , He tells them to keep a Perfect 9.0it or can't do'it don't hold' 'not have prior 'experience witb: ~, ,< ~d ohe ~fthe biggest problems ';, ' " : ,killed at We are rolling;" D~y.~ record of everything, even the it against them;" ,Dani~l sind, "We mortuaryservices, which Dam,e( :',~ lh )l:ea:tr he satd. "' .. way the matnstreamrnedia covsai'd,:Within anhour orso.you ,pictureSjnthe,wallet$, becausett ' jl,l.~'t all around the base-and find " told his father has been difficult," c /;:nip:i'obl~m being that itis' so ered the event ,are in'tb,at,xact, same location " i$ diffi.cultto know what is Importq~tmit that Use theI)1, We ~, for some.' ' , " ' , " ,'''', ,l1otoYertHete, the bacteria.starts ..It's really just a horrible t;hing hopirig those guys ~tillaren't', tantror the frunny to get back: ,dqn,'t rorc them ti> do ~jol;>,". , ''That's a toughonefor the kids," . to,bUild"up'iJmnediately," David that it got puton camera, that '. . there hiding somewhere," . "But don't stare too long at , He said th~dropout rate in the he said ofhis son's fellow troops, _,' "Sai!t:"bnce yotf.refrigerate the re somebodygot fUm of that," Daniel" Then they survey the area and .those photos, Just'knowthat they, unit is aboutA5 percent', who are often much younger, '," ' , :tfi.airi's, it slows dcwn the breaksaid,"' 0\1. try to shelter people' ,fiIDtte out the best.way to piCk'up are there and count them;" he Daniel saidthe Marine Corps 'They went in there knowjng how " doWn of the body." .from, that'" " , ':'" '_ ',' the remams, personal belongings' _ said.' ''ThOse happy-tinie photos 'created the Unit'bec.ause of the ' ' to1lre'ah M~16: ndnow.theyre in .: In fac~ b:lS son once asked'hinl A : Far from the elegant surr,otindand military equipment that people carry around with high concentration of Marines in mortuary affairs, which requires a ,about the Ideal temperattirefor ings of the fiiri:erlilhome, blmi~~' , ""{f e take,every precaution to tb,em inte~eres with your abilitY the Sunni tri.aIigle,where much of totally diffe,rent attitude." , ' trqorting corpses:. d~grees. sai(p;li.sjob in,Jraq can be ,nerve' ensure everything is collected," ,to do your job!" ," the heavy fighting i$taking place. ,AIid th~ mortuary affairs unit" "You are 100kihg for all the t.acking, ., ,!' ' ",he,said. " Daniel said it '\\r3.s especially There are 30,OOO,Maiin~de- 'which is ruri by the lstFbrce Ser- right things that give you more : ' "Nobegy Shoots ,aune when rm They return to th~ base ;md be-' hard whim they were recovering ployed inIr~q; accordingto the Ma- vice Support Group fron;t Camp time to ,get the remains ready; so ~~ck home. }Ii,Lawrence tryiJIg to" ':gin to'Work,on the body, an~wfthfive Arrp.y soldiers kill,ed in an rine Corps: There'is another mor- ' ,Pendleton in Californifl, handles it's presentable;ifit is at all prepick up a bOdy a,ta hospiW,': he in 24 hours, it is flown to Dover Air: ,amQush. ' ' tuary aft:air,sunitlOO miles away, casualties regardless of the' milisentable," David, said said ",,', " " ' Force Base in Delaware, ,Before ' "When wew~reoutthereon butwhentheMartnescreate'dthe tarybranch,': ' While tbt{son has retrieved :, D~el'~day often beginS With a tl),at h,appeD,though, the.'j9b ,the field pick'ing thelil. up, there flrstc,ne;hewaS specificaIiy, calleQ. _Asof today, 930 soldiershave about 190 casualties since Jan:U,~anto his mobile 'pho~e .notifYtng takes an incredibly difficult U,Im waS a p~ec~ a pAper that. the com-, . Daniel,- who peclPDe a Ii died fighl;ing,in Operati!}n Iraqi ary, the father s,aid be has held him of a,fallensoldie~.A team of ~e tells the unit to make note 9f maIiding officer had given, ,us that censed funer:al djrector after he Freedom'according to the De-' about t~<r.t:h4'ds as many fun'er- , at least four people as!!emb,lesJor ,_ all the wounds 'and write down. Viasblowing around," he said, " graduated from Briarwoo\l. Colfellse Department. alsin the. same periop of tiine, ' the retrieval missio~ T1;J.~ rest of':, ,how the'soldieq)robably died, hut ' "wp.en we open~d up the piece of ,lege in Boutlii.J)gton; Conn. - is '''He ,doesn't-carewhether ' ,Because Daniel's military job i? the 20meIilber unit stays behind to not dwell on,it and start wpnpaper, ~t-.wasan'tiltr~s<!und!! definitelY theIl).6st ~xperienced tlleY're Aimy, liJa:vy; Marines," s~ to his clvill.anjob, David, , In caseanotber call cOmes in ot, 'dertng how much pain he went ' ije figures the'soldier probably ,one in tb.e group, " David 'said ofhis son. "lfthe1re a' said Daniel's two'daughters Ashhe admits) in the team does, had the ultrasound mailell to him 'Hekriew siiice'higJ:(school he ''Casualty; they have to'be brought, ley, 10, and Morgan, 5; unders~c not niake it back.': . . "Y QU kindl! like to think,every: and did not even have a chance to "wanted,tO go moo We funeral , back" ,'. " wpat their father,does in !iaq:AlWhen the,Marines ~v~"their ': one dies ~acefully inth~ sleep, see his pregnant wife. He said,' home lmsineSs. , ";, "The two men keep in ool,lCh ofthough, 'he'said they mostly irilagfirst ~ki!l t6 secure thl'larea and 'htitthe shame of war is tbatit that touched a lot ofthemenfwbo '!It's notoiMn,that you see ~kid ten, iIsually via e:-maii David said ine their dad puts on a silit'and checkfor'W.~den explosives or in- d<:JesJl't appen 'that way," he sa,id. all volunteer for th~ duty. h ' ip. high school that isJocused like , ,his son asks him a lot of quesgoes to work; " surgerit;s.:, ', And 'the same thing when <;ata"They can leave ts UI)it at any thatt his fatb,er said, tions, since he often has to think Daniel is ewected, back home 'W-e are going to the exact' logmg 'the personal belongings, time if they feel they-don't want to ' Most of the unit's members do on Ws feet while out in the field by-November,
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joined the group last week and was.preparing to wiite her first lethis 10-year old daughter, Ashley, ter. Angela said she has a lot of\, who came up With the idea of writ- questions-about what life is like.in ing to her dad' . Iraq and ''if there are any bomb-' ings going on," . . , . Angela DiLeo, 11, of Methuen "I don't know how life' is in Iraq"j Angela said. "I haven't been in ~ anywhere else except America," Kelly Moynihan, 11, of Methuen, , who .has been writing to Cotnoir since the beginning; included a joke in her last letter about a p!g in a restaurant that orders water when his two'friends are ordering' hamburgers and spaghetti with ice ' cream ar:d choco~atr ?ilke. for . . dessert Finally, their waiter gives in' to tiJs own curiosity and asks the pig. why he is ordering water j when all his friends' are pigging out. The pig.responds: "Somebody - .. ~ BY;\LEx QUINoNEs '' has to go wee wee all the way sTAFFwIDT,ER .' home." '. r<,, ': In one ofhis letters to Kelly, Cot, .METIIUEN'':__ Sgt, Daniel B. Cotnoir al- '. ~ noir-wrote to her about the bad loways gets a kick out af reading the ques- l' Cal food, the different shades of his tions children ask him: j brown camouflage uniform .and Have you killed ~yone since, you've' , ~. the. intense heat. been there? ])0 you have a gun? Do they . j "Yes, it is very hot here. We get makeyouwear that uniform every day? j to about 100'to 115'degrees in the -Cotnoir won't say Jf he has killed some- j days," Cotnoir wrote. "lt Win reach one, though he .deflnitely has a-weapon; ~ 130to140 degrees in late August." : ' And, yes, he tells the 'children begrudging- j Sharron said the best part of tlie ly in hiS letters, they 'make him wear that. 1 project is that the children are desert eamoutlage uniform every day, j writing real letters and not e,mails; although Cotnoi:r has access A small group of children, who attend a 1 , wrtting workshop at Nevins Memorial Li~ <, j .to the Internet, brary.bas been Wrtijtlg.letters since May' ~ ','These are physical letters to Cotnoir, a 32-yea,r-old mortuary special- j . good, old-fashioned letters," Sharist, from Lawreneewhdts serving in Iraq. . j, ron said Her writing group for fourth-, . , ~da Shaiion, ~.liprarian whoruns the ~ Nevins ~,workshop and mails the letters, ,1 nrta- and sixth-graders runs all Said llie Marine does not,go intothe details 1, year: Each session focuses on a d,lf of hiS job with the children, iuthough it was j ferent topic and those who attend changes all the time. But Sharron PLease 'see'tETT,ERS1 p~ge 2 estimated that the usual group of about 10 ch_ildren has written 40 letters since they started. And she ha.s not heard of anyone not getting a response back. Sharron said the art of letter writing is dying and she hopes this exercise will encourage the children to continue. Also, they learn about cun:ent events, in this case about the war in Iraq. . "I think it makes the conflict more real to them," Sharrcn said. "It humanizes the conflict. They (now) know Someone who is ilieJ;'e."

Corinuedfrom Page 1

Kids' letters offer ~,,"iflittle'l~vity

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