A Soldier... A Mother A soldier was lost A soldier and a mother. She paid the highest cost Her and seven others. Together they went home Prisoners no more. Never again to be separated and alone. Their spirits stand beside their troops Just as they did before. They are Americans who gave their all They never asked why...they never said no. They left behind their loved ones to answer the call. They were children, they were adults... they are heroes. This is the story of a young mother Who served her country never asking for glory. She was a proud American soldier like the others And she was a proud Native American named Lori Jo Murray Lori Piestewa 1980 - 2003 In Snow, Hopi saw Lori's spirit returning home Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service TUBA CITY - It shouldn't snow in April here on the sun-washed mesas of Arizona's Painted Desert. But when an unseasonable blizzard swept across Coconino County this weekend, the Hopi indians knew why it happened....Lori Piestewa was coming home. The body of Pfc. Piestewa, the 23-year-old mother of two was the first female American soldier killed in the Iraq war, was still lying at Dover Air Force base in Delaware. But to her fellow Hopi in her hometown the snowfall represented Lori's spiritual return. "When a Hopi is deceased they come back to the home mesas," said Wayne Taylor, the tribal chairman, as snowflakes coated his shoulders. "The spirit returns to the community and the family in the form of moisture and this is Lori coming back." Lori was a Hopi with Navajo blood. The granddaughter of a Hispanic immigrant and a Roman Catholic. Lori leaves behind a 4-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter. Lori's 507th Army maintenance company was ambushed March 23 near Nasinyah, and she was one of 11 soldiers listed as missing in action. For the following two weeks her parents, Terry and Percy Piestewa, led nightly prayer vigils asking for the soldiers' safe return. Lori's family will hold a Hopi "Celebration Of Life" in her memory. In Memory Of All The Troops Lost Please pray for all the troops lost, missing and those still fighting And all their families Share With A Friend This Page is Dedicated to Lori's Family, the Hopi People, and all the Families of Lost and Missing Loved Ones View The Guestbook Sign The Guestbook Poetry and Page were designed and created with Love by Joanne/GabbiAsh April 11, 2003 Tributes To America II Jo's Carousel Dreams Mail You are listening to "Amazing Grace" by R. Carlos Nakai Sent to me from Clint/ClintsShy through his Darlin' Girl & my Sister/Friend Sunny/Sunnygrl1 Please click on their names to join their e-zine lists :) My Thanks to Gayle Civale/Gayle50638 for sending the news clipping and the pictures to Sunny Walker/Sunnygrl1 And I thank Sunny for the inspiration to write the poem and make the page It's such a privilege and my small way of saying Thank You to a Hero. My Thanks to Harmony for this Award Joanne in Dreamland©