As Ft Campbell, KY eagerly awaits the return of the 101st Airborne Division from Iraq, some won’t share that joy.
The widows living in the military community 50 miles north of Nashville have until now been able to blend in with the other spouses living without a loved one. Some spouses go weeks without hearing from their soldiers in Iraq. It can be awkward and painful for the widows, however, as others excitedly plan reunion parties and resume life with their military spouses. Already, the first planeloads of an expected 20,000 soldiers from the 101st have started to return.
Christine Bellavia, whose husband, Sgt. Joseph Bellavia, 28, was killed Oct. 16 in Karbala, acknowledges she’s ”a little jealous” of the other spouses. She looks forward to talking to her husband’s buddies but still dreads the homecomings. ”That’s going to be the hardest thing for me,” said Bellavia, 32, of Clarksville, Tenn…
The enormity of the emotions associated with seeing others return hit her last year at an airport as she was returning from her husband’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. A crowd at the airport applauded when a group of soldiers walked by, and tears welled up in Bellavia’s eyes. She was holding the box with the American flag from her husband’s burial inside. ”It was like they got to come home,” said Bellavia, who is studying to be a nurse. ”It was like, not fair.”
Read more…