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05-11-2004, 08:39 AM
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Frank Adamouski lost his son, Captain James Adamouski, in a helicopter crash in Iraq on 2 April 2003. BBC News Online's Kevin Anderson visits him to find out how the family are coping, and how they feel about the US's role in Iraq. "I think we've cried every day," Mr Adamouski said. But although he lost his son, he still believes it was right to invade: "We needed to change the power in Iraq," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/2.jpg
Jimmy's father, Mr Adamouski knows the dangers of war. He spent more than 23 years in the US military. Here he is conducting weapons training in Germany. He did two tours of duty in Vietnam, including during the 1968 Tet offensive. He rejects comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam. After the ousting of Saddam Hussein in a conventional war, the US is now fighting a different war against terrorists, he says. Mr Adamouski agrees with President Bush that it was right to take on this fight.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/3.jpg
Jimmy knew by the time he was nine-years-old that he wanted to go to the United States Military Academy at West Point and join the army. He was an avid football player and was named most valuable player in his third year at West Point. The MVP award is now named in honour of Jimmy. Jimmy had played semi-professional football in Germany when he was stationed there. But his football career was interrupted when he was sent to the Balkans, one of four tours of duty he would do in the region. [/img]
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Jimmy did not have to go to Iraq, but chose to do so. "He had been in command of the company for a year, and it was coming time to change command," Mr Adamouski said. "Jimmy felt that he had trained with the company for a whole year. He felt that if he didn't go with them that it would be like abandoning them," he said. "He called us on the phone and talked to us and said, ‘I gotta go with these guys to Iraq'."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/5.jpg
Jimmy told his mother Judy (pictured) and new wife Meighan not to worry, that he would try to stay out of danger by flying low and fast. He had ambitious plans for his future after the war. The couple had married in the summer of 2002, and he had been accepted to study at Harvard Business School. He planned to return to West Point to teach economics. After finishing his military career, he hoped to run for political office.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/6.jpg
Whenever there was a Blackhawk crash in Kuwait or Iraq, Jimmy always found a way to get to a telephone, and he would call his wife Meighan and let her know that it was not him or his company. After news of a Blackhawk crash on 2 April 2003, the family did not get a telephone call. "I would have bet this house that it was Jimmy's helicopter," said Mr Adamouski. As he and his wife travelled to be with Meighan in Savannah, Georgia, the news came that Jimmy had been killed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/7.jpg
Jimmy's helicopter crashed into a small island or sandbar in a lake west of the Iraqi town of Karbala. Mr Adamouski thinks that either there was a major mechanical failure or that they were hit by ground fire. The helicopter hit the ground at almost 318 kilometres per hour, descending almost 600 metres per minute. Debris was strewn across an area 70 by 23 metres. There was no chance for survival for Jimmy or the other five men in the helicopter.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/8.jpg
Lieutenant General Richard Cody presents Jimmy's wife Meighan with the US flag that was draped over her husband's coffin. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Additional remains discovered two months after the crash were cremated and spread at West Point. Jimmy was buried with full military honours. Some 1,000 people attended. "No parent wants to bury a child, but Jimmy was accorded all the respect that was due him," Mr Adamouski said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/9.jpg
"Do I miss him? Oh tremendously," Mr Adamouski said. With his voice cracking, he added, "Do I wish he was still here? Absolutely." "I don't blame anybody for the fact that he was killed," Mr Adamouski said. The family are devout Catholics: "If it hadn't been for our faith, I don't know how we would have gotten through this," he said. Jimmy had conducted a prayer service the day he died. "I have no doubt where he is now," added Mr Adamouski.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/10.jpg
Mr Adamouski still supports the war in Iraq. "People need to understand what we are doing and why we are doing it. There are good reasons, and they need to provide support," he said. However, he believes that the US needs to "back off" to show that it is not a colonial or imperialistic power and stick to the 30 June deadline to hand over sovereignty. "We need to get out and the UN needs to get in," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/html/1.stm
Frank Adamouski lost his son, Captain James Adamouski, in a helicopter crash in Iraq on 2 April 2003. BBC News Online's Kevin Anderson visits him to find out how the family are coping, and how they feel about the US's role in Iraq. "I think we've cried every day," Mr Adamouski said. But although he lost his son, he still believes it was right to invade: "We needed to change the power in Iraq," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/2.jpg
Jimmy's father, Mr Adamouski knows the dangers of war. He spent more than 23 years in the US military. Here he is conducting weapons training in Germany. He did two tours of duty in Vietnam, including during the 1968 Tet offensive. He rejects comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam. After the ousting of Saddam Hussein in a conventional war, the US is now fighting a different war against terrorists, he says. Mr Adamouski agrees with President Bush that it was right to take on this fight.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/3.jpg
Jimmy knew by the time he was nine-years-old that he wanted to go to the United States Military Academy at West Point and join the army. He was an avid football player and was named most valuable player in his third year at West Point. The MVP award is now named in honour of Jimmy. Jimmy had played semi-professional football in Germany when he was stationed there. But his football career was interrupted when he was sent to the Balkans, one of four tours of duty he would do in the region. [/img]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/4.jpg
Jimmy did not have to go to Iraq, but chose to do so. "He had been in command of the company for a year, and it was coming time to change command," Mr Adamouski said. "Jimmy felt that he had trained with the company for a whole year. He felt that if he didn't go with them that it would be like abandoning them," he said. "He called us on the phone and talked to us and said, ‘I gotta go with these guys to Iraq'."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/5.jpg
Jimmy told his mother Judy (pictured) and new wife Meighan not to worry, that he would try to stay out of danger by flying low and fast. He had ambitious plans for his future after the war. The couple had married in the summer of 2002, and he had been accepted to study at Harvard Business School. He planned to return to West Point to teach economics. After finishing his military career, he hoped to run for political office.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/6.jpg
Whenever there was a Blackhawk crash in Kuwait or Iraq, Jimmy always found a way to get to a telephone, and he would call his wife Meighan and let her know that it was not him or his company. After news of a Blackhawk crash on 2 April 2003, the family did not get a telephone call. "I would have bet this house that it was Jimmy's helicopter," said Mr Adamouski. As he and his wife travelled to be with Meighan in Savannah, Georgia, the news came that Jimmy had been killed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/7.jpg
Jimmy's helicopter crashed into a small island or sandbar in a lake west of the Iraqi town of Karbala. Mr Adamouski thinks that either there was a major mechanical failure or that they were hit by ground fire. The helicopter hit the ground at almost 318 kilometres per hour, descending almost 600 metres per minute. Debris was strewn across an area 70 by 23 metres. There was no chance for survival for Jimmy or the other five men in the helicopter.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/8.jpg
Lieutenant General Richard Cody presents Jimmy's wife Meighan with the US flag that was draped over her husband's coffin. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Additional remains discovered two months after the crash were cremated and spread at West Point. Jimmy was buried with full military honours. Some 1,000 people attended. "No parent wants to bury a child, but Jimmy was accorded all the respect that was due him," Mr Adamouski said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/9.jpg
"Do I miss him? Oh tremendously," Mr Adamouski said. With his voice cracking, he added, "Do I wish he was still here? Absolutely." "I don't blame anybody for the fact that he was killed," Mr Adamouski said. The family are devout Catholics: "If it hadn't been for our faith, I don't know how we would have gotten through this," he said. Jimmy had conducted a prayer service the day he died. "I have no doubt where he is now," added Mr Adamouski.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/img/10.jpg
Mr Adamouski still supports the war in Iraq. "People need to understand what we are doing and why we are doing it. There are good reasons, and they need to provide support," he said. However, he believes that the US needs to "back off" to show that it is not a colonial or imperialistic power and stick to the 30 June deadline to hand over sovereignty. "We need to get out and the UN needs to get in," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/mourning_jimmy/html/1.stm