In Honor of Spc. Eugene A. Uhl
 
Dear fellow Christians,
In searching for information about the Black Hawk Crashes of Nov 15, 2003, I came across your page.  You have proudly displayed photos and updates on your soldiers. 

Continue to pray, continue to write and just continue to remember them.

I'm glad 'your Terry' is ok.  We lost 'our Eugene' in the crash. 

Please pray for those families who are devastated by this.

Thank you,
S Brunes
Nov 22, 2003
                                                                  

Every time there is news of another devastating attack on our soldiers, especially in the area of Mosul, Judy, Terry William's mom, comes to work the next several days totally distraught with worry for her son.  Even now as she organizes the preparation and shipping of Christmas shoeboxes to all 53 men and women in Terry's unit, she anxiously watches the news, hope against fear, for word of Terry's safety, or of another attack near his position.

I am sure my cousin Christy will feel the same worries and fears and hopes when Vance, her husband, is deployed late this year or early next.  Even though we as Christians know where our hope and strength lie, we still love our families, sons, daughters, husbands and wives, and that love becomes translated into concern for their welfare when the course of life takes them into dangerous situations. 

This is not a lack of faith in God.  It is not a failure to trust Him for His protection.  It is a part of our humanity.  God can and will protect.  He will bring our loved ones back to us.  Yet, we know that in this life, there are times when the circumstances of life take those loved ones from us, and God, in his omnipotence and omniscience allows it to happen.  It is not that God is uncaring but the nature of the fallen world we live in.  I have experienced it, not on the battlefield of war, but on the battlefield of disease.  The hurt, grief, loss...they are the same.

To Shari and her family, we share your loss and will keep you and Eugene's family and friends in our prayers.  My heart grieves for you and the tears fall as I write.  I know the hollow feeling of dreams and hopes denied.  Though I know nothing of Eugene but for the Department of Defense news release, there is someone who was close to him who now knows that hollow feeling.  If he was married, or making plans, the prospect of children & grandchildren was anticipated with joy.  If he wasn't yet, that future still burned bright with excitement and design for a life filled with happiness and joy.

I'm sure his family and friends all will remember the love and caring he displayed to those around him.  How he put the needs of others above his own.  His areas of interest and expertise admired and respected.  At 21 he had a whole life ahead and his potential boundless.  Now...

But in your hurt and loss know that there are others who are holding you up in prayer.  Though there are now and will be times, when the memorial service is over, friends and family return to their lives and for them all is returned to normal, you will look around and wonder what is wrong with them.  How can they be OK when you are anything but? 

When those times come, know that you are in someone's prayers.  Reach out to the same God who has always loved you, always cared for you.  If He's powerful enough to trust and hold on to in the good times, He's tender and loving enough to let embrace and sustain you to in the bad.

And always remember His words to Joshua, "Haven't I commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; don't be afraid, neither be dismayed: for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9 Msg Bible

Be encouraged with the promise and presence of God.  Don't let the current circumstances bring dismay; God is all-sufficient.  When we are in His will and trusting Him, we have reason to be strong.  Still, in those times when weakness and grief overcome, take it all and lay it on Him.  Let Him bear the burden.  Pour your pain, grief, and yes, anger, out to Him.  Then let the Father wrap His arms around you and feel His love.
While Terry Williams continues to be doing well and Vance Bowen is still stateside waiting to be deployed to Iraq, we have received the messsage on the left from a visitor to this website. For the latest information of Terry and Vance check the " News From The Front" link on our "Those Serving in Iraq" page.

Eugene is Army Spc. Eugene A. Uhl III, 21, of Amherst, Wis.  He was killed when the two Black Hawk helicopters crashed in Mosul, Iraq Nov. 15.  Eugene was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky. 

While we sit safe in our homes watching the latest reports on the news, sometimes with the familiarity of the daily reporting we forget this is not a video game.   The bullets and bombs are real, the blood being shed is red and warm.  The pain felt is anguishing and the grief and sorrow beyond measure.