Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: empty uniform, Major Beck, Jim Cathey, Sergeant Edwards (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Sheeler (Obit: Inspirational Stories of People Who Led Extraordinary Lives) pays eloquent tribute to the soldiers who have died in Iraq and their devastated families. The author spent two years shadowing Maj. Steve Beck, a marine in charge of casualty notification, as he delivered the news of battlefield death to families. Sheeler puts readers in Beck's shoes as he walks up to houses, delivers the knock on the door so dreaded by military families and tries to comfort distraught spouses and parents. Sheeler provides intimate sketches of the fallen soldiers—like Marine Staff Sgt. Sam Holder, who died while drawing enemy fire away from an injured comrade—and follows up as grieving families try to put their lives back together. The children left behind are often the most tragic figures: the young son of army PFC Jesse Givens asks if he can be a little boy again when he goes to heaven so that he can play with his dad. Dedicated to everyone who opened the door, Sheeler's book is a devastating account of the sacrifices military families make and should be required reading for all Americans. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post

Reviewed by Andrew Carroll

War's brutality is the secret that civilized societies keep from themselves. Along with the raw, blood-and-guts physical carnage of battle, what often gets minimized is the emotional devastation suffered by military families, whose loved ones have been torn violently from this world.

Home-front anguish is especially hard to capture; while the ferocity of combat can be conveyed in dramatic images of screaming grunts kneeling over wounded buddies, the grief experienced by those back in the States tends to be more private and subtle. It is recorded in still photographs of freshly cut flowers under white headstones or the reaction of a mother who comes home to find Marine Corps officers in their dress blues waiting for her. "Please don't let it be," she pleads. "Please tell me it's not Jimmy. Please tell me it's not my son."

James "Jimmy" Cathey was killed in Iraq on Aug. 21, 2005, leaving behind a wife, Katherine, who was pregnant with their first child. He is one of five young servicemen profiled by Jim Sheeler in Final Salute, which evolved out of a Pulitzer Prize-winning feature story he wrote for the Rocky Mountain News in 2005. Like Cathey, Christopher "Doc" Anderson was 24 years old when he was killed in Iraq on Dec. 4, 2006. Brett Lee Lundstrom, a Lakota Sioux Indian killed on Jan. 7, 2006, was 22. Kyle Burns, who died on Veterans Day 2004, is the youngest of the five. He was only 20. The oldest, Jesse Givens, was killed on May 1, 2003, the day President Bush gave his "Mission Accomplished" speech. If the date isn't ironic enough, Givens died when his tank plunged into the Euphrates River. "Pfc. Jesse A. Givens," Sheeler writes, "drowned in the desert."

But this book isn't about how these men died. Final Salute is about what happens next -- the knock on the door, the transfer of the body, the public ceremonies and the private attempts to mourn, cope and remember. Mostly, it concerns the traumatized souls left behind who represent the invisible casualties of every war.

Featured prominently as well are the notification officers responsible for that first, excruciating visit to the next of kin. These military personnel, who are given little training, discover that the very sight of their government vehicle can prompt screams and outright hostility. In the most extreme case to date, a father who had just been informed by Marine officers that his son had been killed in Iraq set the Marines' van on fire -- with himself inside.

Sheeler spotlights Maj. Steve Beck, who notified the relatives of Burns and Cathey. Beck's compassion seems limitless. More than a shoulder to cry on, though he is that too, Beck is there to assist the families with everything from funeral arrangements to bureaucratic red tape. One senses there is nothing he wouldn't do to ameliorate their grief.

While Sheeler clearly has enormous respect for the families and the notification officers, Final Salute is not hagiography. In one of the book's most painful and infuriating scenes, Sheeler describes how an officer came to the door of Melissa Givens, asked for a "Mrs. Gibbons," read perfunctorily from a written text and then argued with her about whether or not her husband was really dead.

Ultimately, Sheeler pays the deceased troops and their families the great tribute of never reducing them to one-dimensional characters. In succinct, vivid prose, complemented by photographs that illuminate the lives of the young men and their families, he beautifully captures their individuality and unique personalities. At Kyle Burns's funeral, his mother, Jo, was introduced to Terry Cooper, whose son Thomas had also been killed in Iraq. After briefly talking about their boys, Cooper concluded that both were probably hell-raisers growing up:

" 'Was your son as big a little [expletive] as mine?' she asked.

" 'Yes!' Jo Burns said, exploding with laughter and tears. 'Oh, yes!' "

All of these moments that Sheeler has so meticulously gathered act as a powerful counterpoint to the impersonal statistics and verbal camouflage of military euphemisms that sanitize the true horror of war and dehumanize those who serve. Sheeler reminds us that every one of them is distinct, imperfect and real.

Copyright 2008, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The; 1 edition (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159420165X
• ISBN-13: 978-1594201653
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #154,485 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "MY BIGGEST FEAR WAS **"THE-VISIT"** TO MY PARENTS HOUSE.", May 3, 2008

By	Rick Shaq Goldstein "Rick Shaq Goldstein" (Danville, Ca, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

When I was in the military I was sent on a classified mission when I was nineteen years old. No one in the entire world that knew me, cared about me, or loved me, knew where I was going or what I was doing. I carried two fears within me during this time. The first fear was obviously of being killed. The second fear was of "THE-VISIT" that my poor, wonderful, loving, unknowing, Parents would get if I was killed. The horrendous, horrifying, ghastly, human reaction by a next of kin that has no reason to worry about a knock on the door by "CASUALTY NOTIFICATION", is too gruesome to imagine let alone put in words.

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****************** "THE KNOCK" *********************
"YOU CAN ALMOST SEE THE BLOOD RUN OUT OF THEIR BODY AND THEIR HEART HIT THE FLOOR. IT'S NOT THE BLOOD AS MUCH AS THEIR SOUL. SOMETHING SINKS. I'VE NEVER SEEN THAT EXCEPT WHEN SOMEONE DIES. AND I'VE SEEN A LOT OF DEATH."
****************** MAJOR STEVE BECK *******************

This book should be read by every single American citizen. But, be warned; it is extremely emotional and you will shed tears. I am an honorably discharged Viet Nam era veteran and I consider myself to be a pretty tough guy. I have faced death and came out on the other side. When I got this book, before I actually started reading it, I went to the center portion which has twenty-four pages of color pictures that range from pictures of our fallen hero's that are depicted in this book, to their mourning families before and after "notification", to a pregnant crying wife, draping herself over the American Flag, that is draped over the coffin containing her husband, to cemeteries, to a ripped apart "last letter" home from a fallen American Hero. As if the pictures weren't powerful enough the captions carry additional emotional power of their own. I could not make it through the pictures without tears coming to my eyes!

************************** REVERBERATIONS *******************
"YOU ALWAYS HEAR ALL THESE STATEMENTS LIKE "FREEDOM ISN'T FREE." YOU HEAR THE PRESIDENT TALKING ABOUT ALL THESE PEOPLE MAKING SACRIFICES. BUT YOU NEVER REALLY KNOW UNTIL YOU CARRY ONE OF THEM IN THE CASKET. WHEN YOU FEEL THEIR BODY WEIGHT. WHEN YOU FEEL THEM, THAT'S WHEN YOU KNOW. THAT'S WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND."
************** MARINE STAFF SERGEANT KEVIN THOMAS *********

People watch the news and they read papers and magazines about the cost and damage of war, but this book to me is the echo of the story that isn't heard when you turn off your TV or throw the papers and magazines away. Reading this book makes me prouder than ever that I served my country honorably... and it reinforces within my very soul, what I've never taken for granted... and that's the blessing that I came home alive. I could not go more than five or ten pages at a time without my eyes losing its battle to fight back tears. I have my Honorable Discharge displayed between my family room and my kitchen, and under it I've always had the following quote displayed:

**** "THOSE WHO HAVE LONG ENJOYED SUCH PRIVILEGES ***
**** AS WE ENJOY... FORGET IN TIME... THAT MEN HAVE ***
**** DIED TO WIN THEM." Franklin D. Roosevelt ************

I promise you that anyone who reads this book will never forget not only the Americans who have died for their country, but also the Americans that served and were lucky enough to come home alive. G-d Bless America and my prayers go out to all the hero's and their enduring families that will forever share tears of pride.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Heartbreaking Tribute, May 13, 2008

By	tides24 "tides24" (West Seneca, NY USA) - See all my reviews

I remember reading about Woodrow Wilson's agony, as he prepared to address Congress, to ask for the US to enter WWI. All he could think of were the boys who would be killed or maimed as a result of his words. Witnesses said his face was actually contorted, perhaps a harbinger of the stroke he would have, a few years later. Before entering the chamber, he stopped in front of a mirror, and physically pushed his face back into a normal mode. In recent decades, one wonders if Presidents are all too cavalier about sending young men to die in questionable wars. One thinks of Lyndon Johnson telling the troops to "nail the coonskin to the wall" or George W. Bush in his flight suit, Top Gun, "Mission Accomplished" moment. "Final Salute" should be required reading for every President.

Through the eyes of those who have to perform the horrible task of notifying the next of kin of the death of their loved ones, the book tells the story of several soldiers, marines, and sailors who didn't make it home. One comes to know them well, and grieves for them and their families as they go through this agony. Lives interrupted, cut short. Children who will never know their fathers. Young war widows trying to survive. Parents who must bury a child. All this in the aftermath of "the knock" on the door. The pictures almost take your breath away.

This book is not about glory, not about conquest. In the end, I think it is about loss and love...the love of family members, the love of comrades in arms, the love of Country. As Memorial Day draws near, the sacrifices these people made, on both sides of "the knock" should never be forgotten. This is not an easy book, but you shouldn't miss it.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Humble Presentation , May 3, 2008

By	Aceto "All knowledge is sorrow." (Meilhan Sur Garonne) - See all my reviews

This is a fine work of quiet journalism. Mr. Sheeler has written vignettes from his personal observations of our current military burial practices and rituals, from family notification to points yet undefined, if only because some of these counselors remain in contact with some of the families. These are matters of depth and duration.

These are his accounts of the daunting job of those who bring terrible news to the "Next of Kin", and of the next of kin themselves. Such journalism is difficult to do cleanly and honestly. He does a remarkable job of not inserting himself into the chapters. He was, by the testimony of United States Marine Colonel Beck, most respectful of the fallen and of their families. Bias may be inevitable, but I find none here to cloud or distract or distort these sad events.

Each story is only as long as necessary. No editorializing. No purple embellishment. With such clarity he lays before us so that each touches us. First each alone, and then in a gradual appreciation of the both range and the commonality of them all. They are moving and enlightening.

The only time you get a sense of this author is when he bares the events where he is himself involved. After all, he really was there and in contact with the families and others. He cannot deny it by omission. But as he works through the difficulties of not being that in-your-face newsman we usually read or see, he actually further illuminates the courage of these families.

I started off by mentioning burial rituals and practices. Mr. Sheeler has a keen eye and ear. He does much to record the ceremonial side as well as the personal side. Indeed they touch profoundly in his renditions. Things sometimes vary by service. He points them out to us. He supplies quite a lot of information in a subtle way as the book unfolds. Such careful presentation is artful without artifice. Here is beauty and pain, ache and remembrance, truth and respect. Please read this book.