Family Loses Home To Katrina, Son To The War In Iraq
November 3rd, 2005 5:46 pm
WLOX-TV
Elaine Oneto was trying to rebuild her own life after Hurricane Katrina when she was informed her soldier son had lost his in Iraq. Now, coping with the loss of her home is taking a back seat to a new challenge - helping make a future for three young children who lost their father.
1st Lt. Robert C. Oneto-Sikorski of Bay St. Louis was on a foot patrol near al Haswah, in an area west of Baghdad, on Monday when he was killed by a roadside bomb, military officials said. The news came at a time when the National Guard soldier's family was reeling from the Aug. 29 hurricane.
Oneto-Sikorski's home, like his mother's home, was flooded by the Katrina's storm surge. Oneto-Sikorski, 33, and Claire Rager, the mother of his children, were both stationed in Iraq with the 155th Brigade Combat Team, Oneto said.
Rager has been granted emergency leave and will return home for Oneto-Sikorski's funeral, but she will be coming back to a community virtually wiped off the map by the worst natural disaster to ever befall the state.
Oneto-Sikorski's children - ages 6, 8, and 11 - are staying with relatives near Memphis, Tenn., where they relocated after the storm.
"He was devoted to his children. He is so much more than any of us could say,'' Oneto said. "He was a wonderful man who loved everyone and his loss is going to devastate this whole community.''
"I'm going to do my best to make sure his kids never want for anything, and they remember him for the honorable and brave man that he was,'' she said.
The 155th, which is made up of about 3,500 Mississippi National Guard soldiers and others from more than a dozen states, is scheduled to begin returning in waves from Iraq by the end of the year, officials say.
"I talked to him Thursday night and we were talking about how he was going to come home in December,'' Oneto said. "I told him, 'Please be careful, you just have two more months. You just have two more months.'''
Before his deployment, the Hancock High School and University of South Alabama graduate worked as a mechanical engineer at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' shipyard in Pascagoula.
His mother said he loved playing the guitar and writing his own music. His father, Bob Sikorski of Vancleave, said the two had recently finished rebuilding a Yamaha dirt bike that Oneto-Sikorski loved to ride. But more than anything, he loved his children.
"He loved his kids,'' Bob Sikorski said. "That little girl couldn't go to bed without a hug from him.''
The back-to-back tragedy has fueled anger for some in Oneto-Sikorski's family. His aunt, Eloise Kindja, said the family has had a difficult time in securing hurricane relief and the soldier's mother is still waiting for a temporary trailer from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"What more does she have to give to the country?'' Kindja asked. "She gave her only son.''
But, Kindja said those material things, while important, pale with the loss of her nephew.
"I wish he had been my son,'' she said. "He was an absolutely incredible young man who loved everyone. They world is going to be a worse place without him.''
Funeral arrangements were incomplete.
Link Here
WLOX-TV
Elaine Oneto was trying to rebuild her own life after Hurricane Katrina when she was informed her soldier son had lost his in Iraq. Now, coping with the loss of her home is taking a back seat to a new challenge - helping make a future for three young children who lost their father.
1st Lt. Robert C. Oneto-Sikorski of Bay St. Louis was on a foot patrol near al Haswah, in an area west of Baghdad, on Monday when he was killed by a roadside bomb, military officials said. The news came at a time when the National Guard soldier's family was reeling from the Aug. 29 hurricane.
Oneto-Sikorski's home, like his mother's home, was flooded by the Katrina's storm surge. Oneto-Sikorski, 33, and Claire Rager, the mother of his children, were both stationed in Iraq with the 155th Brigade Combat Team, Oneto said.
Rager has been granted emergency leave and will return home for Oneto-Sikorski's funeral, but she will be coming back to a community virtually wiped off the map by the worst natural disaster to ever befall the state.
Oneto-Sikorski's children - ages 6, 8, and 11 - are staying with relatives near Memphis, Tenn., where they relocated after the storm.
"He was devoted to his children. He is so much more than any of us could say,'' Oneto said. "He was a wonderful man who loved everyone and his loss is going to devastate this whole community.''
"I'm going to do my best to make sure his kids never want for anything, and they remember him for the honorable and brave man that he was,'' she said.
The 155th, which is made up of about 3,500 Mississippi National Guard soldiers and others from more than a dozen states, is scheduled to begin returning in waves from Iraq by the end of the year, officials say.
"I talked to him Thursday night and we were talking about how he was going to come home in December,'' Oneto said. "I told him, 'Please be careful, you just have two more months. You just have two more months.'''
Before his deployment, the Hancock High School and University of South Alabama graduate worked as a mechanical engineer at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' shipyard in Pascagoula.
His mother said he loved playing the guitar and writing his own music. His father, Bob Sikorski of Vancleave, said the two had recently finished rebuilding a Yamaha dirt bike that Oneto-Sikorski loved to ride. But more than anything, he loved his children.
"He loved his kids,'' Bob Sikorski said. "That little girl couldn't go to bed without a hug from him.''
The back-to-back tragedy has fueled anger for some in Oneto-Sikorski's family. His aunt, Eloise Kindja, said the family has had a difficult time in securing hurricane relief and the soldier's mother is still waiting for a temporary trailer from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"What more does she have to give to the country?'' Kindja asked. "She gave her only son.''
But, Kindja said those material things, while important, pale with the loss of her nephew.
"I wish he had been my son,'' she said. "He was an absolutely incredible young man who loved everyone. They world is going to be a worse place without him.''
Funeral arrangements were incomplete.
Link Here
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 3:57 PM
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