Lance Cpl. Nicholas T. Leman

Veterans Day 2006

Our Soldiers in Iraq
One family’s story ...

If you see a lady standing in a grocery aisle crying over a box of raisins, chances are she’s a Marine Mom contemplating sending that box to her son who’s in a war zone overseas.

- Pam Leman paraphrasing an article she read
about how to recognize a Marine Mom

By Karen Clem Fritz

No matter how you voted Tuesday, no matter what your opinion is of the Iraq War, no matter any accusations to the contrary, Americans of all colors and stripes, or ideological persuasions and affiliations are truly concerned about the welfare of our military troops.

U.S. Marines Lance Cpl. Nicholas Leman of Francesville (second from left, above) with some of his platoon members in Iraq.

After all, these brave young men and women in uniform are the children - or brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, moms and dads - the loved ones from hometowns across America. And some of those hometowns are located in Pulaski County.

A few weeks ago, Larry and Pam Leman of Francesville welcomed home their youngest child, U.S. Marines Lance Cpl. Nicholas Leman, 27, from a seven-month tour of duty in Iraq.

“It was the longest seven months of my life,” mother Pam admits.

Most of us go about our daily routines, aware of the war, but not immediately touched by it. Not so for the families of soldiers.

“Every aspect of your life revolves around having a son in the war zone,” Pam says of Nick’s months in Iraq. “I go to bed at night knowing it’s morning there. I wake up in the morning and wonder if he’s alright. It’s an ever-present thing.”

Nick reads mail from home

“The thing the soldiers are most afraid of is that their families are worrying back home,” Pam acknowledges.

But who can help it? These soldiers face danger every day.“Nick tries to protect us,” Pam notes with some chagrin. “I learned the news he earned his combat action ribbon from another Marine family, not from Nick.”

The Lemans never expected to have one of their children enlist in the military. Their older three children graduated from high school and went on to college. No cousins or other close family members served in the military.

“But Nick wanted to enlist right out of high school,” Pam remembers. This was before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S. Mom encouraged her young son to try college first.

“Then 9/11 happened. Nick came home and had this look,” Pam recalls. “I knew what was coming.”

But again, she was able to persuade her son to continue with his college classes. However, a semester away from graduation, Nick returned home from college unexpectedly in September 2004 and announced he had withdrawn from school and was determined to enlist with the Marines.

“Finally, Nick and I had some long, good talks about his decision,” Pam explains. “He told me he ‘felt called’ and compelled to do this, that he had prayed about it, and that he didn’t know if he could be happy if he didn’t follow this calling.”

An Iraq village near where Leman's division was stationed

Pam says she eventually came to understand that “this wasn’t about me, it was about Nick.” She told her son that she couldn’t encourage him to enlist, but if he did his parents would support him. She adds it’s been “a roller coaster of emotions” ever since.

“We’re very proud of him,” Pam says now. “I can see it was the right fit for Nick. He has been called to serve his country.”
Nick is a member of the 1st Division 7th Marines Baker Company. Home base is Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif. The platoon was sent to Iraq in February.

The unit served near the town of Qusaybah, along the Euphrates River and the border with Syria.

“Their assignment was to keep insurgents and terrorists from crossing the border,” Pam explains. When the company arrived, the area had been cleared of enemy combatants. The Marines’ job was to keep it clear.

This often involved searching homes for suspected insurgents. Pam reports the soldiers never knew what their reception might be.
Sometimes the families were receptive and friendly, even offering the soldiers food. Other times they were met with rudeness.

Members of the Leman family, all wearing specially-made yellow t-shirts for the occasion, traveled to California to welcome Nick home from Iraq in September. The shirts feature the logo from Nick's Marine unit and attracted the attention of Leman's commanding officer who asked to meet the Leman's, saying he "had to meet the family in the yellow shirts."

“They never know who the enemy is,” Pam notes. “This is not a traditional war. The danger comes from the unexpected.”

During their patrols, the unit also discovered and removed “lots of IEDs,” according to Pam. The improvised explosive devices are responsible for many of the combat injuries in Iraq.

Communication from Iraq to home was difficult.

“We felt lucky if we heard from Nick every 7 to 10 days,” Pam says. The lines to use computers or telephones to contact home were usually long, and after returning from lengthy patrols the soldiers were often too tired to wait.

“We told Nick that as anxious as we were to hear from him, his sleep was more important,” Pam says. “And,” she adds, “the Marine mantra is no news is good news.”

The “communication” from home to Nick, however, was astounding. The letters and packages sent to him from his hometown and West Central School friends and church family proved to be “far greater” than anyone else in his platoon received, according to his mother. And yes, he shared.

Pam and Larry Leman welcome son Nick home

“We have received some wonderful blessings from this experience,” Pam acknowledges. “We knew we had a wonderful community and church family - but knowing it and experiencing it are not the same thing. It helps me to count my blessings instead of my tears.”

Nick spent 15 days at home in Francesville in October and hopes to return for Christmas. In the meantime he continues to train in California and expects to be deployed again next year, probably back to Iraq.

“He wants to go back,” his mom says. “He believes in what they were doing there and that it was making a difference.”

The Lemans are one of several Pulaski County families who have loved ones serving in the war zone, and all have the support and prayers of the folks back home.

That’s something Pam is ever grateful for.

“You begin to wonder if you can ever do for your community what they’ve done for you,” she says. “I told Nick that even if he could count every box and letter he received from back home, he’d never be able to count the prayers.”