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Written by Scott Wheeler
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Friday, 20 March 2009 10:51 |
 Remembering her son, Pvt. Adam Muller, Kathrine Muller of Jonesville still remembers the tone in his voice when he arrived in Kuwait.
“He sounded terrible but he told me he wasn’t as scared as he thought he would be,” she said. “He called me a few more times once he arrived in Kirkut, Iraq. He did sound better, but it wasn’t my Adam. In one conversation we had he described how he had given the lollipops I sent him to the village children. In return, they brought him a fresh loaf of bread. He told me he couldn’t believe how rough the children had it over there and maybe that was the reason he was there.”
Adam was assigned to the 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) based out of Fort Drum, N.Y.
Life for the 2004 graduate of Mount Mansfield High School took a horrible turn for the worse on November 5th, 2007. That day his platoon was sent into the village of Tal Al-Dahab, Iraq, because the commander received word that there were “dirty Iraqis” in the village. Once Adam and his comrades arrived there they couldn’t find any men of soldier age.
“They did however see a sheepherder on the roof of a house,” Kathrine said. “He kept walking back and forth from the front to the back. One of Adam’s friends noticed this and thought it was odd; however that’s what sheepherder’s do. When the commander ordered them to leave, Adam’s humvee was the last to cross the bridge and that’s when the IED went off. Adam and three of his comrades were killed instantly.”
Also killed were Staff Sgt. Carletta S. Davis, Staff Sgt. John D. Linde and Sgt. Derek T. Stenroos
“Adam was a very sincere person,” the young soldier’s mother said. “He cared about the people around him.”
Kathrine had the opportunity to meet with her son’s platoon at Fort Drum this past December.
“When I first got to Fort Drum, his platoon leader asked me what I wanted to do first,” she said. “I told her I wanted to meet with the guys that were with Adam on that day and with his good friends that he bunked with. They told me that Adam was a great friend. He always picked up their spirits. The one think that is always mentioned when speaking of Adam was his wonderful smile.”
The following are some of the comforting words Kathrine has received from her son’s fellow soldiers:
* “He really helped me through basic. He was always so kind and was such a good listener”
*“He ALWAYS had a smile on his face no matter what. For those of us who were down and wanted to give up he was one of the few who picked you up and told you to keep moving.”
*“He was one of the main sources of motivation for our entire platoon.”
*“Not being too strong of a person, Adam always told me to hold on and keep moving forward. He was a motivation to me and one of the reasons that I made it out of basic training.”
*Adam made a big impression to the people around him. As stated by someone who new my son for a short time, “Not too often do you meet someone who is able to affect you so profoundly by the genuine sense of honor and good that they have in them. Adam was a person who had that affect on people.”
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 March 2009 10:54 )
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