this is a sad post/article indeed

i really did well up when i read it.

A Soldier's Last Impression
After Son's Death, Angry Mother Joins Lawmakers to Ease Citizenship Process
By Sudarsan RaghavanWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, December 7, 2005; Page B01

RANDALLSTOWN, Md., Dec. 6 Army Spec. Kendell K. Frederick's U.S. citizenship plaque is not proudly displayed on his parents' wall. Instead, it's buried in a pile of military and immigration documents they find difficult to read. It's dated Oct. 19, 2005. But that's not when the 21-year-old Trinidad native took part in a citizenship ceremony. It was the day he was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. The sole reason Frederick, a generator mechanic, was on that road was to give his fingerprints to become a U.S. citizen. It was only his second convoy outside the gates of Forward Operating Base Speicher in Tikrit. "To me, it was just a slap in the face," his mother, Michelle Murphy, said yesterday, referring to the plaque that arrived on the family's doorstep two weeks ago. Murphy says her son should never have been on the road. As a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq, Frederick was eligible to become a U.S. citizen within two or three months after immigration officials began processing his application. But a series of errors by immigration officials, Murphy says, delayed action for months..................