News from July 8, 2004 issue


Rich going back to Iraq; Croft will, too
Cpl. Joey Rich left California Monday for a second deployment in Iraq with the Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Lejeune, N.C. Leaving this time was harder than before, because on the receiving end of hugs and good-byes was his wife, Chrystal, and their one-month-old baby.

"There's so much more he's leaving behind this time," said Crystal, who like Rich is a Crittenden County High School graduate and native of Marion.

Rich spent several months in Iraq at the start of the war last year. His unit was among the first to fight its way northward through the country. He returned home last summer, married and became a father.

He and his wife and daughter, Hadlee, were packing in preparation for a short stay in Marion when he received word in mid-June that he would be returning to Iraq.

Rich, 22, became licensed to drive a Humvee while training at Camp Lejeune the past year. His wife knows little more about his obligations in Iraq other than that he will be doing security at hospitals and schools and some patrols in Iraq.

She talked to her husband for a few minutes Monday night.

"He said he'd learned more in the past two days than he had ever learned since he had joined in the Marine Corp," Crystal said. "He said it's high demand and fast paced."
His mother, Jane Rich, said he likely will be gone for seven months to a year.
"I hate it," his mother said. "I don't think he should have had to go back. He was there six moths during the war.

"They say no one is enlisting and the ones who are in (the military) aren't re-enlisting."
Another local soldier, Lance Cpl. Michael Croft, who also served in Iraq last year, is anticipating a February 2005 return to the Middle East.

He recently graduated from Squad Leader School at Camp Geiger in North Carolina. He and Rich are attached to separate companies but are members of the same Second Marine Division.

Croft is assigned as an anti-terrorist battallion.

Dooms home from Iraq; Croft in mail

UPDATE: Every time the phone rings in the afternoon, Frankie Croft thinks it might be her son Jerry calling from Iraq.

Croft was one of two men who took jobs with Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), a company hired by the U.S. military for many different jobs needed to assist the troops in Iraq.

Croft and Junior Dooms, who got sick in Iraq and returned to Marion last week, were hired as truck drivers but had spent their first two weeks sorting mail at Baghdad International Airport.

"The mail is never ending, and they were way behind," Dooms said. "That's why we were helping them.

"I couldn't take the heat. It was 132 degrees when I left Kuwait. You were wet five minutes after you got (to work).

"I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing, I was supposed to be driving a truck."
Frankie Croft said it would suit her just fine if her son, the oldest of four children, stayed in the mailroom rather than driving a truck.

"They haven't gotten their regular schedules yet," she said. "But they do have time scheduled to talk on the phone."

Dooms said he may return to Iraq during milder weather.

Marion High reunion a big success
For many, class reunions are a thing to be avoided, an ordeal if attended. For some, a class reunion is an occasion to suck in that gut and attempt to remember people you haven't seen in decades, and pride yourself on how much better you look than they.

Such didn't seem to be the case for the alumni of Marion High School at their annual reunion held over the weekend at Fohs Hall.

Alumni from classes spanning three decades were on hand to share old times and see familiar faces from their days at Marion High.

Paul Mahan of Sheridan, Mich., a 1940 graduate, said he looks forward to coming back to Marion for the reunions and tries to make it down every year with his wife Mildred.
"We've been coming here for many years. To see these people again, it's just wonderful. We love them," he said.

Out of a graduating class of 40, many have passed away, Mahan said, including some that were killed during the Second World War. Mahan, a veteran of the Pacific Theater of World War II, said that going to the cemetery to see his fallen classmates while in Marion is the saddest part of coming home.

Myrle Dunning of Marion, Class of '48, said she doesn't usually attend reunion events, but does stop by to see old friends and promote the Crittenden County Historical Museum to the alumni. Dunning said the museum sparks many memories for the alumni. One alumnus that came by the museum told Dunning that he remembered her from her beating him in an eighth grade spelling bee.

Mark Mahan of Columbus, Ohio, class of '51, said he drove seven hours to attend the reunion, part of his annual trip to the area. Mahan said in addition to seeing old friends and classmates at the reunion, he likes to go to local courthouses and compile genealogical data. Some of Mahan's favorite memories of Marion High were his participation in the school plays and fund raisers for the school.

Glenwood Stout, who lives up the street from Fohs Hall, didn't have to come quite as far to stop by the reunion. Stout is an elder statesman among Marion alumni, a member of the Class of 1933. Stout, 90, said of a graduating Class of 33, only five or six are living by his reckoning. Stout played football at Marion for three years.

Virginia Faughn of Fredonia, Class of '45, said the reunion is an opportunity to see old friends she doesn't get to see at any other time. Nostalgia for her days as a Marion scholar didn't rate quite as high as seeing her classmates.

Next year will be the 25th anniversary of the Marion High School reunion. Organizer Stan "Hawk" Oliver says it's sure to be one of the largest yet. This year's reunion drew 160 for dinner Saturday night.