When he was a senior in high school, Army Sergeant Michael Carlson, son of Merrilee and Daniel Carlson, wrote a three-page credo that was recently published in the Wall Street Journal.

“When I am on my deathbed, what am I going to look back on? Will it be thirty years of fighting crime and protecting the country of all enemies, foreign and domestic? I want my life to account for something... I only have so much time. I want to be good at life; I want to be known as the best of the best at my job. I want people to need me, to count on me... I want to fight for something, be part of something that is greater than myself. I want to be a soldier..."

After serving nearly four years in the Army, including a final stint with the Ice Platoon (82nd Engineers), Michael, 22, fulfilled those prophetic words. During a night mission, his platoon was assigned to cordon off and take out of commission, two bomb-making factories. As the Bradley they were driving was going over a culvert in the roadway, the culvert gave way and the vehicle rolled over backwards into the water. Seven soldiers were in the Bradley; five died, including Michael. A rescue unit was able to save two other soldiers, in large part because before he died, Michael was able to partly pry open the hatch in the vehicle. Says Merrilee, “We are privileged to have men and women serving in the military who are willing to give their lives, their time, and their energy to preserve, protect and defend our freedom.”

News

• Merrilee Carlson spoke to WCCO-TV in Minneapolis at a recent Families United event.

• "We can't leave this work undone in Iraq. We can all argue about how we might have gotten there. But we're there and we need to see it through....I suppose we could have taken the beaches at Normandy,'' Merrilee said, "and then decided it was too expensive or too difficult to keep going. I wonder what the world would look like today.'' Read more of Mrs. Carlson's interview with the St. Paul Pioneer Press here.

• Daniel Carlson said his son's essay and the response to it have eased the pain of losing him, and he continues to believe that the U.S. effort will lead to a better, freer Iraq and a safer America. "He didn't die in vain," he said. "It will come." Minneapolis Star Tribune 5/29/05