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Posted on Tue, May 3, 2011 : 5:55 a.m.

News of bin Laden's death brings no closure to family of first Washtenaw County soldier killed in post-9/11 wars

By Juliana Keeping

The death of the world’s most wanted terrorist brought no closure to family members of Donald McCune, the first soldier from Washtenaw County to die in conflicts that spun out of the events of 9/11.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever get closure,” McCune’s mother, Darcy Monier, said Monday, a day after a U.S. Navy SEAL team killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

“It’s been almost seven years since my son was killed, and our lives have changed lot in that seven years. But it doesn’t stop us from missing him every day,” she said.

Darcy-Monier-Donald-McCune.jpg

Darcy Monier, a former Ann Arbor resident who now lives in Lapeer, visits the grave of her son Spc. Donald R. McCune II, in 2005 at Oak Grove Cemetery in Chelsea. McCune died in August 2004 after his convoy was hit with an improvised explosive device.

The Ann Arbor News | File photo

McCune died of injuries sustained on Aug. 4, 2004, after an improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol outside Balad, Iraq. He died at an American hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, the next day. He was 20 years old.

While Sunday’s news of bin Laden’s death didn’t bring closure, it didn’t bring satisfaction or celebration, either, said Monier, a veterinary technician who moved from Ann Arbor to Lapeer in 2007. Monier described empathy for bin Laden’s family in response to the news.

“He wasn’t a good person, but it’s still a loss,” she said.

The death may have no direct impact on McCune’s family, but the ongoing conflicts do. Monier’s husband and her son’s stepfather, Benjamin Lewis, has been a member of the armed forces for 23 years and has already served two tours in Iraq. He remains enlisted and could be re-deployed with a Michigan Army National Guard unit.

The war that killed his stepson had also brought them closer together, Sgt. Lewis said outside of the Michigan Army National Guard armory complex in Ypsilanti. Their relationship was strained — until Donnie enlisted.

They suddenly had something in common, Lewis said. Donnie told him things he kept from his mom because he don't want to worry her — like he was actually a gunner on a Humvee. In Kuwait, as Lewis left, his stepson arrived. They tried to connect, but customs threw a wrench in those plans.

Three months later, Lewis was training at Camp Grayling in Michigan when he got word that the Department of Defense had contacted his wife. There had been an accident.

Monier learned few details from those officials, other than her son had been injured. She made plans to travel to Germany. While she waited to board at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, officials from the Department of Defense tracked her down and told her the news.

050211_NEWS_Sgt._Lewis_MRM_.jpg

Sgt. Benjamin Lewis, shown outside the National Guard armory complex in Ypsilanti on Monday, lost his stepson in 2004 in Iraq. Lewis remains enlisted.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

McCune died, the family later learned, from internal bleeding after major trauma to the head and pelvic area.

“My son was doing what my son wanted to do when he died,” Monier said. “Had my son known what was coming, he would have gone anyway. That’s who he was.”

After McCune’s death, Lewis was deployed from 2006 to 2007 with the 1171st Area Support Medical Company, a Michigan Army National Guard medical unit. While working in support of a medical clinic in Baghdad during that tour, he got an idea that he wanted to be a goat farmer after watching a woman in Baghdad milking a goat.

He and Monier have operated a 10-acre farm in Lapeer with goats and sheep since he returned in 2007.

Doing tasks, like chores at 4 a.m. “keeps me out of trouble,” he said.

Saddam Hussein's December 2006 execution didn't end operations in Iraq, the couple pointed out. Neither Monier nor Lewis think bin Laden’s death will impact Operation New Dawn in Iraq or Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Lewis, who declined to share his feelings on the ongoing conflicts but spoke highly of the Iraqi people, said he is ready to go to Iraq again, at any time, like his stepson.

Juliana Keeping covers general assignment and health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter

Comments

CincoDeMayo

Wed, May 4, 2011 : 3:57 p.m.

Thank you Ben and Darcy for all that you do. I was at Donnie's funeral. And feel his loss deeply. Thank you for being compassionate, respectful and hard working people.

Mr. Tibbs

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 5:15 p.m.

I no more believe this president ordered the killing of any musim, than I do that after this easter's "celebration" by the president, that he is a christian. sorry an old debate, but the reverand wright thing was just one more red herring, and I refuse to believe this "killing" of one of his fellow practitioners of islam is credible. He ordered the killing of an islamic cleric hiding and being protected by an entire community of retired pakistani military, supported by the government itself. and yet he orders law enforcement to halt the burning of a book. the burning of a book is somehow more blasphemous, than the killing of a cleric....even though he may be a terrosist cleric, there are hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions of his followers willing to avenge his death? doesn't anyone find this book being more important than a life just a little funny? But then again I keep forgetting who I am talking to.....I really thought he was looking to bring them to "justice" and didn't the navy seal so they say pick up OBL and carry him out of the building over his shoulder? Live or dead the deed could have been the same!

mojo

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 2:26 p.m.

It may seem hard to understand - but the extremist islamists' have been attacking US targets for centuries. Thomas Jefferson is even quoted well in these regards. And their attacks will continue well into the future. See <a href="http://www.thereligionofpeace.com" rel='nofollow'>www.thereligionofpeace.com</a> for a body count and news like this . . . :2011.05.01 (Paktika, Afghanistan) - At least four people are killed when a 12-year-old suicide bomber detonates at a crowded market. For them - this fighting is religious, they are not attacking because of some 'policy' - that is just an excuse. They fight against every Jew everywhere, they fight against every non-islamist' everywhere - even others in Islam. We in the West can not truly understand the commitment that these radicals make - and continue to make - to destroy us. We cherish life - they don't. We respect Freedom - they have their own version of 'Freedom'. They will take every advantage. Time is on their side - as it has been for centuries. They fight for a cause, a very deep cause. Until, that deep cause is replaced or corrected - more attacks will come. God bless McCune. His was a life paid in a true world battle against an evil force centuries old.

mrmoose

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 2:23 p.m.

Please remember all who have gave thier lives for our country this Memorial Day. We live in freedom because of the people who are willing to gave their tomorrows. The American Military is the living anwser the the prayers of the oppressed people of the world.

Top Cat

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 12:39 p.m.

Hopefully we are one giant step closer to the time when no more American soldiers will die in Afghanistan and Iraq. God bless Darcy for her loss.

Top Cat

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 5:33 p.m.

Adam, I hope you are wrong but fear that you are correct.

Adam Betz

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 1:46 p.m.

Top Cat....we are not any closer to leaving Iraq or Afghanistan. This really changes nothing.

Patricia Cockrell

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 11:31 a.m.

This may seem macabre to some however I stumbled across a photo for Bin Laden's corpse on the internet. It is located at <a href="http://in.news.yahoo.com/live--india--in-real-time--may-3.html" rel='nofollow'>http://in.news.yahoo.com/live--india--in-real-time--may-3.html</a> -- Scroll down to the video about Iraq's reaction..

abc

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 4 p.m.

<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/02/osama-bin-laden-photo-fake" rel='nofollow'>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/02/osama-bin-laden-photo-fake</a>

Kai Petainen

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 12:53 p.m.

that's not him.