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American Morning
Memorial Day: Marine Widows
Aired May 26, 2003 - 08:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Today Americans remember the men and women who died during the nation's wars.
But as our Brian Cabell reports, for the families of those warriors who never came home, remembering is something they do every day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Chelle Pokorney, the last two months have seemed like an eternity of grief and emptiness. Her husband, Marine First Lieutenant Fred Pokorney, was killed in an ambush in Iraq on March 23. But Chelle has forced herself to smile sometimes, even sing.
She's not singing solo these days. Nope, she's got a partner in the back seat. That's Taylor (ph), Chelle and Fred's daughter. She's almost 3 years old. Mommy's told her daddy's not coming home, but to always, always remember him.
CHELLE POKORNEY, MARINE WIDOW: He's in heaven and he loves her and he's very proud of her and he's with her every day. And I tell her to look in the mirror and she'll see him.
CABELL: They were building a life together, these three. Fred and Chelle bought their first home, they acquired pets. Now the house has to be sold because even with Social Security and military benefits there is more money going out then coming in. And Chelle, only 32, has to somehow forge a new future for herself and her daughter.
Sometimes amid the sweat and exertion at the Marine gym, she manages to forget her sorrow and her disrupted plans. And sometimes with fellow Marine wives on lunch dates, life seems almost normal. They talk about kids and homes and husbands finally returning from Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our guys are coming the 24th.
CABELL: Chelle's always been their rock, these women say, the one who kept them strong and hopeful. But now they know she's different from them.
LEANNE BATCHELOR, MARINE WIFE: We take for granted that they're coming home. And she's not going to have that.
CABELL: How do you console a young widow? What do you say? There are no easy answers. AMY WILLIAMS, MARINE WIFE: Even when she calls me sometimes, I wish I had something to offer her to make a day go easier, to make a night go faster.
CABELL: Nights are tough, Chelle admits, that's when the tears come, when Taylor is asleep.
POKORNEY: I'm going to get through this. It's never going to be OK. It's never going to be the same. My life's been taken from me, you know. Fred was our life, and we have to make a new life, but we can do it. And we can always have his memories.
CABELL (on camera): Who's this?
POKORNEY: This is my father.
CABELL (voice-over): The memories are there in the grainy videos. The wedding day, Taylor's first birthday, her pony ride with daddy at her side. Yes, sometimes he seems so close they could almost touch him.
CABELL (on camera): If you could talk to your husband now, what would you tell him?
POKORNEY: That we miss him and that we love him very, very much.
CABELL (voice-over): Just a few months ago, there were three of them. Now there are only two. That's what can happen when a Marine goes off to war.
POKORNEY: And I just hope I'm doing the right thing for his little girl.
CABELL: He's buried at Arlington. And every Memorial Day, Chelle says, the two of them, the singing partners, Fred's girls, will visit him.
Brian Cabell, CNN, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 26, 2003 - 08:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Today Americans remember the men and women who died during the nation's wars.
But as our Brian Cabell reports, for the families of those warriors who never came home, remembering is something they do every day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Chelle Pokorney, the last two months have seemed like an eternity of grief and emptiness. Her husband, Marine First Lieutenant Fred Pokorney, was killed in an ambush in Iraq on March 23. But Chelle has forced herself to smile sometimes, even sing.
She's not singing solo these days. Nope, she's got a partner in the back seat. That's Taylor (ph), Chelle and Fred's daughter. She's almost 3 years old. Mommy's told her daddy's not coming home, but to always, always remember him.
CHELLE POKORNEY, MARINE WIDOW: He's in heaven and he loves her and he's very proud of her and he's with her every day. And I tell her to look in the mirror and she'll see him.
CABELL: They were building a life together, these three. Fred and Chelle bought their first home, they acquired pets. Now the house has to be sold because even with Social Security and military benefits there is more money going out then coming in. And Chelle, only 32, has to somehow forge a new future for herself and her daughter.
Sometimes amid the sweat and exertion at the Marine gym, she manages to forget her sorrow and her disrupted plans. And sometimes with fellow Marine wives on lunch dates, life seems almost normal. They talk about kids and homes and husbands finally returning from Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our guys are coming the 24th.
CABELL: Chelle's always been their rock, these women say, the one who kept them strong and hopeful. But now they know she's different from them.
LEANNE BATCHELOR, MARINE WIFE: We take for granted that they're coming home. And she's not going to have that.
CABELL: How do you console a young widow? What do you say? There are no easy answers. AMY WILLIAMS, MARINE WIFE: Even when she calls me sometimes, I wish I had something to offer her to make a day go easier, to make a night go faster.
CABELL: Nights are tough, Chelle admits, that's when the tears come, when Taylor is asleep.
POKORNEY: I'm going to get through this. It's never going to be OK. It's never going to be the same. My life's been taken from me, you know. Fred was our life, and we have to make a new life, but we can do it. And we can always have his memories.
CABELL (on camera): Who's this?
POKORNEY: This is my father.
CABELL (voice-over): The memories are there in the grainy videos. The wedding day, Taylor's first birthday, her pony ride with daddy at her side. Yes, sometimes he seems so close they could almost touch him.
CABELL (on camera): If you could talk to your husband now, what would you tell him?
POKORNEY: That we miss him and that we love him very, very much.
CABELL (voice-over): Just a few months ago, there were three of them. Now there are only two. That's what can happen when a Marine goes off to war.
POKORNEY: And I just hope I'm doing the right thing for his little girl.
CABELL: He's buried at Arlington. And every Memorial Day, Chelle says, the two of them, the singing partners, Fred's girls, will visit him.
Brian Cabell, CNN, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
