John Keilman: PERU, Ill. —— They buried Anthony Wagner in his hometown two days before Veterans Day. It was cold, with a stinging wind that tore the last few leaves from the trees and pulled the cemetery flags into taut ribbons of red, white and blue. A lone sun ray spilled from the sky, briefly painting the grave markers with a stripe of gold before vanishing into the clouds.
Wagner couldn’t get out of Peru fast enough when he was a teenager. He was a hard case back then, prone to fighting and partying, and he had ambitions too big for a small town to hold. When an Army recruiter visited his high school in 2001, he saw his chance to escape.
But a few months after he enlisted, Wagner stared at a mess hall television screen and watched the twin towers disappear in pillars of smoke. Just like that, his future was set on a new course.
(thanks, Mara)
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