Laura Margaret Walker

West Point, 2003

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Ilker Baburoglu on May 20, 2007:

I am writing this from Turkey. I didn't personally know Laura but it struck me when I was looking at the photos. I also graduated from SAHS in 2001. My father is in the Turkish Armed Forces. We were at SHAPE for three years. The days I spent there were so different and special that from time to time I try to recall those days by surfing the net and hope to find updated info on SHAPE. That's how learned about Laura. Earlier on I said "it struck me" because I remember Laura and her brother from high school days after all these years. I wanted to write something. I was 9 when my father was posted to Hakkari, city at the very south-east of Turkey. It was a custom at that time to leave the family behind because those were the places nobody would want to even speak about. It was a time of terror. But we went along with my father. We stayed two years there and in that two years I've witnessed countless gun shots. I used to pray so that my father wouldn't get hurt outside. My friends and I used to collect empty shells on the ground as a game while the kids at my age in the west of Turkey did what a normal kid would supposed to do. But there for the first time I learned, I felt the real meaning of the word "martyr," which I was hearing a lot those times. It wasn't about a religious or a spiritual theme. It was about the very emotion that led you to go thousand miles away from home to defend that one thing you believe in. It was about the country. In Turkey, we never use the verb "killed" when a soldier dies. Laura, I offer you and your family my deepest respect. May your soul rest in peace. God bless you and your family. Sincerely, Ilker Baburoglu

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