09-17-2006
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County Executive
We are the ones we've been waiting for.
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Member Since: Feb 2005
Location: California
Posts: 382
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Re: The Iraq Page, RIP soldiers
 
Johnathan Benson
Quote:
St Paul Pioneer Press -- Cpl. Johnathan Benson, of North Branch, lay in his Texas Army hospital bed, his left leg gone, most of his left arm, too, from midway between his elbow and shoulder.
The 21-year-old Marine had been wounded by a roadside bomb June 17 during his second tour of duty in Iraq. He was in rough shape and feeling down one day, uncharacteristic for the usually upbeat young man, his family said.
One of his superiors visiting him that day asked him, "John, are you still a Marine?"
"Sir! Yes, sir! I will always be a Marine!" he responded. "I will live as a Marine, and I will die as a Marine!"
His mother, Marjorie Benson, recalled that scene Sunday as she and her husband, Steve, reminisced about their son. Johnathan Benson, the youngest of their six children, died from his wounds Saturday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
His family is making arrangements to bring his body home later this week for burial in his hometown, where friends and family remember an enthusiastic young man with an infectious smile, a prankster's heart and a love for adventure.
"We're extremely proud of him," Marjorie Benson said from the Army hospital residence Sunday night. "He's our hero, he's North Branch's hero, he's Minnesota's hero, and he's the world's hero."
Benson, who served with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division, was injured nearly three months ago when a bomb exploded under his vehicle near Habbaniyah. He lost his left leg and part of his left arm and was paralyzed from the waist down, according to the CaringBridge Web site created for him. After he was hospitalized, Benson had a stroke on both sides of his brain.
He was awarded a Purple Heart, which was pinned on him by a Marine commandant while he was at the hospital.
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Rest in peace Johnathan
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