Reply #3: Here are a couple of articles from his local paper... [View All]

Cambodians grieve for a son
Rites for a fallen Marine tear at many war refugees

By MERRILL BALASSONE
BEE STAFF WRITER


Last Updated: March 18, 2006, 07:56:01 AM PST


Before he is laid to rest among fellow Marines, the body of Lance Cpl. Bunny Long will come to a west Modesto Buddhist temple where Cambodian-Americans from around Stanislaus County will honor their first son lost in Iraq.
The saffron-robed monks of the Wat Cambodian Buddhist Association will preside over a traditional ceremony today for hundreds of Long's family and friends.

Long, 22, was killed March 10 when a suicide bomber drove a truck filled with explosives into a building he was guarding near Fallujah, in Iraq's Anbar province. He died from shrapnel wounds to his chest, said Marine Capt. Donn Puca.

Long's family retrieved his body Thursday night on the rain-soaked tarmac at Oakland International Airport, where four Marines had escorted the casket from a Naval hospital in Delaware.

His older brother, Bunna, said the family was overwhelmed by lines of supporters who greeted them on the way home in a motorcade of police and sheriff's cars.

more...
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/11947996p-12712661c.html



Marine's death in battle more than just a number

By JEFF JARDINE
BEE LOCAL COLUMNIST


Last Updated: March 19, 2006, 05:29:07 AM PST


When U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Bunny Long was killed in Iraq last week, the 22-year-old became Stanislaus County's first casualty among first-generation Cambodian-Americans serving in the military.
His death is significant because another U.S. soldier — a beloved son, brother, friend and one of our own from the valley — has died in battle.

And it's significant because Long represents another chapter in the history of our melting-pot nation. He is among a generation of U.S. citizens who grew up in two cultures: the ones their families brought with them and the U.S. culture, albeit a work in progress, that was already here.

The end of the Vietnam War, followed by the flight of Cambodians from the butchering Khmer Rouge, brought thousands upon thousands of Southeast Asian refugees to the United States. Children born in this country to these families are U.S. citizens, even if others in their families are not. Such was the case with Long, whose parents speak their native language at home.

"I'm sad for his parents," said Rich Paddock of Modesto.

more...
http://www.modbee.com/local/v-dp_morning/story/11951573p-12716153c.html