Lest we forget: the six soldiers who died searching for Bergdahl

Bowe Bergdahl’s departure from his post and the events that followed are controversial. He either deserted, as many of his former comrades at the base believe, or for legitimate reasons as yet unknown (dazed and confused?), wandered off. Then he was either captured by, or sought out Taliban forces. Somehow or other, he managed to learn Pashto in his years of captivity and reportedly has forgotten much of his English. As a devoted viewer of Homeland, various possibilities occur to me.

But one thing that is not controversial is that six brave men died searching for him, whatever his motives and responsibilities were for his disappearance from his duty post. At Time Magazine, Mark Thompson reminds us of who the heroes are:

Staff Sergeant Clayton Bowen, 29, of San Antonio, Texas, and Private 1st Class Morris Walker, 23, of Chapel Hill, N.C., were killed by a roadside bomb in Paktika province on Aug. 18, 2009, while trying to find Bergdahl. Like Bergdahl, they were part of the 4th BCT from Fort Richardson, Alaska.

Bowen’s mother last heard from her son the night before he died. “Clay called me around midnight to tell me I

wouldn’t hear from him for a few days,” she said. She never heard from him again, although she can still hear his voice in the two CDs he recorded with the 82nd Airborne All-American Chorus. “He was the only bass in the group,” she said, “so you could always hear him.” (snip)