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The significance of Matt Lembke

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By ROBERT G. BRACKNELL

Special To The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 19, 2009

Matt Lembke died a week ago Friday. I did not know Matt, though we were kinsmen, after a fashion. Matt was a Marine infantryman, the latest of my brothers to die from injuries sustained in combat, in a desolate environ half a world from his rain-rich, lush home in Tualatin, Oregon.

Matt's parents were pained by his death. So were his classmates, fellow high school football players, friends, teachers, ministers, military leaders and fellow Marines. But much of America did not notice.

Rather, America was fixated on Michael Jackson. America lost another one of her best, but Matt Lembke's passing was drowned out by the echoing sounds of Los Angeles spending over $1 million to eulogize a self-indulgent weirdo. The memorial occurred at one of California's most regal public venues in front of almost 10,000 people - worldwide, over 1 billion people on television and over the Internet. MSN.com reports that about 50 percent more people watched the funeral on the Web site than viewed President Obama's inauguration.

Peering in at the end of a dreadful and pathetic life and mourning a troubled failure, much of America failed to apprehend that life had ebbed out of one of her finest, a paramount warrior and selfless steward. All he did was serve three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, get paid less than the starting salary for a New York City sanitation worker and give his life to his nation.

A handful of celebrities have died in recent memory - Farrah Fawcett, the infomercial guy whose name escapes most right-thinking people, David Carradine and Dom DeLuise. I exempt Ed McMahon from this list of the newly dead because McMahon, a Korean War veteran who flew 85 combat missions as an aerial artillery spotter, retired from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve as a colonel in 1966.

But none has captured the public's attention like the passing of Jackson. We have been subjected to 'round- the-clock news coverage of his death, his will, that Diana Ross is the backup guardian for his children, that his preposterous and self-seeking father is launching a new record company, and now that Latoya, whose own flagging career is badly in need of publicity, is firmly convinced of foul play in her brother's death.

The King of Pop's death and its attendant mania, of course, is a metaphor for America's obsession with unimportant things and incorrigible people - Paris Hilton, whose principal talent appears to be being wealthy; Steve McNair, a philandering and underachieving former athlete shot to death by an apparently obsessive and unstable 20-year old girlfriend; the Octomom; David Carradine's private habits; Alex Rodriguez and his cohorts' attempts to bring America's greatest game to its knees with syringes.

Matt Lembke was not yet done being a Marine, and he had much more to offer America - potential as a father, son and husband, perhaps as an FBI special agent, protecting America in a different but equally important way. I bet I would have liked him. Even if I hadn't liked him, I know I would have respected him. In fact, I know that I do, and I bet most of us would have.

Matt was not the first of his generation to give his life to this fight, and he will not be the last. The least we Americans can do is pay attention, honor his sacrifice, comfort and provide for his family and treat it like it's important.

Robert Gray Bracknell is a Marine lieutenant colonel on active duty in Norfolk, Va. Cpl. Matthew Lembke, a 22-year-old scout sniper, died July 10, less than a month after losing both legs and suffering internal injuries from an IED blast while on patrol i

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