Military families honored, thanked during ceremony at Capitol
Published: Oct. 17, 2010, 4:00 a.m.
MARY KLAUS, The Patriot-News
Cherriney Kondor will never forget hugging her son, Martin, goodbye at the Phila­delphia International Airport on a cold January day six years ago.
The 20-year-old who loved riding his motorcycle, play­ing his guitar and eating chocolate chip cookies whis­pered "I love you" to her.
He hugged her again, headed back to the Army after his leave and returned four months later — in a cas­ket.
Kondor, now secretary for the Greater Harrisburg Chapter of Gold Star Moth­ers, spoke Saturday about how "the American soldier never fights alone" during and after the Pennsylvania Military Family Day ceremony in the state Capitol.
The event, organized by Veterans Resource Central, was held to "honor the fami­lies of our nation's deployed troops," said Louis Leyes, council president.
Tom Faley, a retired Army colonel, Vietnam War veter­an and South Middleton Twp. supervisor, calls fami­lies "the backbone of our armed services."
These days, Kondor puts her energy into creating the Veterans Memorial Gold Star
Healing and Peace Garden, a commemorative arboretum dedicated to those killed in
the war against terrorism.
The Lower Windsor Twp. resident said it helps her heart heal after the death of her oldest son, Martin, who was an Eastern York High School senior when the ter­rorist attacks happened in 2001.
"I remember sitting with Martin and Joe, my youngest son, at our dining room table
talking about the attacks," Kondor recalled.
"Martin said 'we have been attacked on our sovereign soil. I'm going to do some­thing about it.' I was sur­prised that he would use a word like 'sovereign.' He said he wanted to join the Army and be a tanker," she said.
On his 18th birthday, Mar­tin Kondor joined the Army. His mother, who initially didn't favor the move, said that "I had to get behind what he was doing. I wor­ried, but I supported him."
She said her worries con­tinued when he was de­ployed to Iraq. On April 9, 2004, Martin served as a gun­ner on a three-vehicle unit that came across a cross-fire attack.
"The rocket-propelled gre­nades were flying so close Martin could read the serial
numbers," she said she was told. Her son climbed up in the Humvee and began fir­ing, hitting what his mother called "an old beat-up car stuffed with people heading straight for the convoy. He fired and the vehicle burst into a fireball."
She said his action "was enough to get them all through the ambush safely." He later received an award, posthumously, for his brav­ery.
"Martin was traumatized that he had to kill people, but he saved people, too," she said.
Twenty days later, while he was manning a machine gun in a convoy, he was killed by a roadside bomb.
"Two guys in uniform came to our house and said 'we deeply regret to inform you that your son was killed,'" Kondor said. "I couldn't believe it. I knew he was going into war, but it never occurred to me he would die."
Kondor joined the Gold Star Mothers while strug­gling with her grief. She found understanding from the other mothers who buried their children. She also found a place to channel her energy as she designed the Gold Star Peace Garden in Memorial Park in York.
The garden, which Kondor hopes will be completed by early next summer, will in­clude a Wall of Valor with the names of those who died fighting terrorism and a bub­bling fountain representing life. "Martin would have loved it," she said. "He loved the military and he loved outdoors."
Kondor said the American soldier never fights alone because "his mom is al­ways there. She's riding along in one of those pockets, no matter what else is stuffed in there. This also runs strong in fathers, brothers, sisters, friends and neighbors. When a soldier goes off to protect the country, a part of them goes with that soldier. They are always connected."
Faley, the event's keynote speaker, agreed. He said the Department of Army rec­ognizes the commitment, sacrifices and contributions to readiness Army families make daily. Faley, whose three daughters all served as Army officers, said spouses and families serve "every bit as much as the soldier does."