United in Pain, Divided Over the War

Sunday, Aug. 14, 2005 By NATHAN THORNBURGH
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"NOT A DAY GOES BY THAT I DON'T WISH MY SON WERE STILL HERE. BUT I SUPPORT THE WAR."

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THOMAS F. ZAPP

The father of Thomas J. Zapp, a Marine lance corporal killed near Fallujah on Nov. 8, 2004, made a pilgrimage from Richmond, Texas, to Crawford last week. He came to see Cindy Sheehan, not President Bush. "I want to sit down and talk to her," explains Zapp. "She says that a lot of people don't understand what's she's been through. Well, I do." That would probably be where their understanding ends. When Zapp learned of his son's death, it only strengthened his robust support for the war. "It made me prouder to be an American," he says, "and prouder to have known my son for the 20 years he was on this Earth."

"SOMEBODY HAS TO SAY STOP. WHO BETTER THAN MOMS WHO HAVE LOST THEIR CHILD?"

LYNN BRADACH

The feeling that your child may have died in a senseless war can be a double anguish. In the two years since her son Corporal Travis Bradach-Nall, 21, was killed clearing land mines, Bradach tried to honor his memory by tamping down her anger. After all, her son had volunteered for the extra tour that ended up being his last, and she wanted to respect that commitment. But Cindy Sheehan's public protest has given Bradach confidence in expressing outrage. "Soldiers are being killed, and no progress is being made," she says. "We need to call [the troops] home." Bradach is planning to travel from her Portland, Ore., residence to Crawford this week to join Sheehan, and she is certain that her son would have supported the trip.

"SHEEHAN IS DISHONORING HER SON BY DEPICTING AMERICA SO NEGATIVELY."

JENNIFER HARTING

She gave birth May 1, two days after her husband Jay, a captain, was killed at a checkpoint. Labor was induced so that she and the baby boy could attend the funeral. But Harting, of Fort Irwin, Calif., knows that the real work of eulogizing Jay to their three children has yet to begin: she wants their father's death to be a lesson that sometimes the toughest fights are the most important ones. That's why Harting smarts at Sheehan's brand of grief-fueled activism. "I sympathize with her pain. But I think Cindy Sheehan doesn't get it," she says. "You can't just leave when the going gets tough. Even if tough means that soldiers are going to die." Harting thinks that instead of protesting, Sheehan should take solace in knowing that a soldier's job is to follow the President no matter what. "Her son's life could never have been in vain," she says. "It's sad she can't see that."

"I ADMIRE SHEEHAN FOR WHAT SHE'S DOING."

JOSEPH COLGAN