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Donn Edmunds sits for a portrait in his living room on September 1 in Cheyenne, Wyo. Edmunds’ son, Army Ranger Spc. Jonn Edmunds, was among the first American casualties of the war in Afghanistan. The Associated Press
When it was learned that a 20-year-old Wyoming soldier was one of the last casualties of the two-decade American war in Afghanistan, it came like a tragic bookend: 20-year-old Wyoming soldier was among the first to die in the same war.
Spc Army Ranger. Jonn Edmunds, of Cheyenne, was one of the first two casualties of the war when a Black Hawk helicopter on a search and rescue mission crashed in Pakistan on
October 19, 2001.
Last month, the family of Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, from Bondurant just outside Jackson, learned he was among 13 US soldiers killed in an Aug. 26 suicide bombing at Kabul airport.
Edmunds and McCollum were both killed during their first deployments. Between the two, nearly 2,500 American soldiers died in the war in Afghanistan, most with far less attention than the two men from Wyoming.
Edmunds
As with Edmunds’ death in the chaotic aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, McCollum’s death strikes a chord as Americans struggle to figure out what, if anything, is good about their nation’s longest war.
“It was a completely senseless death”, Edmunds’ father, Donn Edmunds, said of McCollum. “Seeing other people lose their loved ones only brings back bad memories to my family. “
A 25-year-old U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam, Edmunds recalls how two officers knocked on his door on the outskirts of Cheyenne before sunrise on October 20, 2001, announcing the death of his son.
“I looked out the window, saw them standing there and all I could think was ‘Oh my God, I know why they’re here.’ I made notifications so I knew, “ said Edmunds, who as a military police officer was involved in announcing the deaths of loved ones to loved ones. He was choked and silent as he watched a display of his son’s medals and the folded American flag presented to him and other families.
of fallen soldiers.
“They came in and gave us the ‘Regrets to inform you’ speech. My wife was up at the time, and I saw her blend into this carpet right here on the floor, ” Edmunds recalled. “And they asked, ‘Is there anything we can do? And we said, ‘No, just let us absorb that, and we’ve got to be able to accept that.’ “
McCollum’s widow, Jiennah Crayton, is due in a few weeks, and the family are planning a memorial service sometime after. Meanwhile, three online fundraising efforts have grossed more than $ 900,000 for Crayton and the child’s education.
“All the sons of these people were great. Each of them has been a traumatic loss for their family. And the thing is, what for? Edmunds said. “We have abandoned their mission.
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