The Thirty-Eight Twelve Memorial Foundation Who Is Jason Marchand?
Jason Nicholas Marchand was born to Debbie Parsons (nee Underwood) and Dr. William Marchand of Greenwood, West Virginia, on April 8, 1981. Childhood was what was normal in Doddridge County at the time, surrounded by family and friends.
Jason graduated from Doddridge County High School near West Union, West Virginia, in 2000, where he wore number 75 for the Doddridge County Bulldog football team and ran track.
After graduation, Jason worked several jobs, but it was not until returning home from New Mexico in 2005 that he decided to enlist in the United States Army. Jason found that the Army suited him well, so he applied to, and graduated from, the US Army Airborne School in Fort Benning, Georgia, in November, 2005. (He had previously encouraged his youngest brother, Richard, to enlist with him; Richard replied by saying, "No way in hell am I going to allow the Taliban to shoot me!")
Jason was assigned to the Second Stryker Cavalry Regiment in Fort Lewis, Washington; the 2nd SCR has the distinction of being the longest consecutively serving cavalry unit in the United States Army. Jason felt that it was his duty to keep terrorism, and those responsible for it, from coming to American soil. He was proud of his jump wings, and he knew that not too many people could achieve what he did.
The Army restationed 2SCR to Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany on September 15, 2006. Jason continued his training with his fellow Strykers in the German countryside. Jason, long being fond of wolves and having collected many items with a lupine theme, found it very appropriate that he was assigned to the 3rd Squadron of the 2SCR, known as the "Wolfpack."
In May, 2007, the Army announced that the 2SCR would be deploying for a year of service in Iraq some time later in 2007.
On August 10, 2007, Jason made a call to his mother, Debbie Parsons, to wish her a happy birthday. Debbie remembers weeping almost immediately.
Mothers always know.
"He called me on Aug. 10 and said he was calling to wish me a happy birthday a little early -- my birthday is Aug. 12," his mother, Debbie, said. "But I knew he was going to say he was being sent to Iraq."
Jason was, indeed, calling to give her that news, and to tell her that he was leaving very shortly. Jason and Debbie were extremely close, and he always made it a point to phone her on her birthday. He was just uncertain of the circumstances this year. (He was able to call her briefly on her birthday from the Middle East.)
“He didn’t like it over there, but said, ‘This is my duty because I have to protect my family.’ And he had to be there with his soldiers; he said his buddies needed him,” Parsons told her friends and family. Debbie was very proud of her "soldier boy," giving testimony to that fact by displaying Army insignia on her van.
This wasn't the first time the family had to go through a deployment--Debbie's husband, MSgt Rich Parsons, was deployed to Iraq from February, 2003, to April, 2004.
That homecoming had a long-lasting effect on those who attended, apparently including Jason.
"I remember our conversation that day pretty clearly," recalls Jason's stepbrother Eric. "He was normally a very quiet person, but that day he was rather talkative. He was saddened by the fact that he was moving to New Mexico and wouldn't be able to see his daughter as often, but he was doing what he thought was best to support her. We had a long chat about football--we're both Steelers fans--and music, particularly the band Audio Adrenaline."
The family would pray for his safety, and await the time for Jason's homecoming, and the inevitable huge celebration that would bring.
On October 2, 2007, Jason made a call home.
“He said, ‘I am going out there (on special assignment) for two weeks.’ He said, ‘Mommy, I love you’ and I said, ‘I love you, too,’” Debbie told us. She remembers telling him to be careful, and to call when he got home. This is when life on a soldier's family is particularly difficult.
Three days later, while running errands, Debbie got a call from some friends who told her that some soldiers were looking for her. Debbie raced home, knowing that this is not normally a good thing.
Mothers ALWAYS know.
"I knew immediately," she said. "My heart stopped. When they came to the house, I didn’t want to let them in, hoping that would stop the news." She insisted that they did not wait, that they needed to tell her what was going on.
They told her something that no soldier's mother ever wants to hear: While performing a combat mission in northern Baghdad, her son, one of her babies, had given his life for his country. The information at the time was sketchy, but she was told that he was killed by an improvised explosive device while performing raids on suspected insurgent safehouses in Baghdad.
“Three days earlier he was calling to tell me he loved me, and then at 3 PM (on October 5, 2007) they were telling me he was gone.”
Also killed in the attack was Sgt. Joe Milledge of Point Blank, Texas.
The family, shocked by the tragedy, pulled together. The following Thursday, Jason was flown home to full military honor to Bridgeport, West Virginia. Local citizens lined US Route 50 all the way back to West Union. Not too many were able to stay dry-eyed at the sight of the flag-draped casket of a local hero.
Jason was laid to rest on October 13, 2007, at Center Point Christian Cemetery in Center Point, West Virginia. Jason was appointed the rank of Corporal and was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his actions in combat. (We have since learned more details of Jason's honorable actions in Baghdad; suffice it to say, we're told that he put himself in harm's way so that his brother soldiers would live.)
Jason's young daughter remembers a good father, one who would take the time to brush out her hair, and play with her.
She also says it best..."I love you, Daddy, and I won't ever, ever, forget you."
------------------------------------------Eric Parsons