Local families send relatives to fight for war effort

Communities across the nation have said farewell to their family members as they travel overseas to fight in the Iraqi war. Silver Lake has also been affected by the troops' requirements. Neighborhood families with familiar names such as the Marshs, Peaks, and Phelps have experienced firsthand how it feels to have a relative serve.

Local resident Stephen Peak joined the National Guard in 1971 and is currently volunteering in Iraq with a North Carolinian unit who were in need of a supply officer. Initially, his wife, Nancy Peak, a paraprofessional and library assistant at Silver Lake High School, felt a jumble of emotions about her husband going to Iraq.

“At first, I had mixed emotions – sadness, fear, abandoned, and overwhelmed. I also felt very proud that he was willing to be away from his family for more than a year to serve his country,” she said.

She speaks to her husband on the phone three or four times each week. They also stay in touch via e-mail.

She is torn between the desire for her husband to be safe and the need to secure the country for future generations.

“I want my children and my grandchildren to be able to enjoy the same freedoms and privileges that I have, so I support what we are trying to accomplish in Iraq,” she said.

She recently spoke to her husband, and he told her that he should be arriving back in Kansas sometime in January.

Sophomore Mary Marsh also uses the telephone to correspond with her father, Richard Marsh, who is overseas.

When Marsh heard news that her father was headed to Kosovo, she realized that her family would have to make many tough choices without her father’s help.

“The first thing I thought was ‘Wow, 18 months is a long time,’ but I was more worried for my mom. She has a lot of decisions to make without Dad,” she said.

The controversy in Iraq has led Marsh to change her view on the war.

“At first, I thought we couldn’t do anything about it, but now that my dad is there, I wish it was over,” she said.

The Marsh family recently found out that their father will be coming home on Dec. 23 but will have to leave again on Jan.1 to go back to Kosovo.

The possibility of sending a family member to fight is overwhelming, but imagine losing two members at once. This is the impending circumstance experienced by the Phelps’ family.

High school band instructor Kendall Phelps and his wife, Sherma, fourth grade teacher, have lived in the Silver Lake area for over 30 years. All five of their children grew up in Silver Lake and graduated from SLHS. Their oldest child, Chris Phelps, is a Major in the United States Marine Corps. He recently came home safely from Iraq but may be headed back, along with his father. C. Phelps feels strongly about all issues surrounding the war and the Marine Corps.

Many factors influenced C. Phelps to join the Marine Corps.

“I wanted to become a Marine due to the romanticism of the Marine Corps. I wanted to see the world, partake in adventures, accept a challenge, and seize a highly coveted title that few young men and women get the opportunity to claim: a United States Marine.

“After I had been in the Marine Corps a couple of years and especially after the first Gulf War, I really started to understand the sacrifice that so many Americans have made to keep this country safe and free,” C. Phelps said.

C. Phelps’ understanding of why the Marine Corps duty was so important progressed as he got older.

“Throughout college and even following school, I learned more and more about how the world interacts and why having people do what my father and I do are vital to our way of life. Now, really, I am a Marine more out of a sense of duty than anything else. The romanticism has been replaced with a sense of responsibility, and I am happy to bear that responsibility,” he said.

K. Phelps has been a Marine since January of 1966. When he goes to Iraq, his focus will be educating the schools. His involvement with the military pushed his son to follow in his footsteps.

“Without a doubt, my father had the largest influence on me and because of him, I wanted to be a Marine. I wanted him to be proud of me, and I thought becoming a Marine would make him proud.

“On the day that I became a Marine, it was not only the proudest day of my life, but I know that it ranked right up there on his proud day list! I just feel fortunate that he was a United States Marine and guided me towards the Marine Corps!” C. Phelps stated.

Although it is difficult to let a loved one go fight in the war effort, it is equally challenging for the enlisted to leave their family. C. Phelps commented that it is one of the hardest decisions he has ever had to make.

“By far, it is the toughest emotion that I must confront. I continually tell myself and I wholeheartedly believe that if we as a country can confront terrorism and rouge nation-states that support terrorist acts, and if we can bring peace, hope, freedoms, and democracy to a country in the heart of the Middle East while at the same time solidifying the security, freedom, and liberties of this great nation, then my sacrifice is inconsequential.

“If I am asked to partake in some small way to accomplish this goal, then I say 'Take me before my four sons are confronted with this problem in 20 years,' and they are forced to clean up a problem that has only festered, becoming increasingly worse, and a problem that we should have confronted 20 years earlier.

“We are doing the right thing, and America needs to stand united and reaffirm to themselves every now and then that we are in fact doing the right thing,” C. Phelps stated.

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