JOLLY DAYS

Dianne Wiest

Dianne Wiest…will recount the story of seven National Guard soldiers killed when their vehicle was blown up in Iraq.

I don't know if you saw Wiest on the National Memorial Day Concert aired on PBS last night, but it was remarkably moving. We tuned in after Wiest had begun; at first it appeared she was retelling a personal story. When Wiest finished she went to embrace the families and you could hear a woman's voice saying, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

From PBS:

Away from their families and facing peril together, the soldiers from the Black Sheep [National Guard Unit ] became a band of brothers. On the day of the tragic attack, two Bradley fighting vehicles were on patrol in a rural area near the village of Taji. Sgt. James Scaruffi's vehicle was following closely behind the Bradley, vehicle carrying his six comrades when he saw the explosion.

“My first thought was that it had disintegrated. The explosion was so strong, it actually lifted the Bradley up in the air and moved it about 150 feet. It landed upside down in an irrigation canal, and it was still burning” All those inside were dead.

Sgt. Scaruffi was devastated, but there was no time to grieve; two days later, he was back on patrol. But once he came home, the images returned.

“I don't want to talk about it,” he says, “but I guess I have to, 'cause I was there. Somebody like me has to come forward and tell their story.”