Robert Augustine Seidel III

West Point, 2004

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by News Post on May 28, 2007:

1st Lt. Robert Seidel III On the anniversary of funeral, family remembers By ERIN HENK News-Post Staff ehenk@fredericknewspost.com When he was in fifth grade at Emmitsburg Elementary School, U.S. Army 1st Lt. Robert Seidel III was given a Memorial Day writing assignment. The 10-year-old penned a poem about the last moments of Marine Pfc. Charles R. Pittinger, who was killed during the Vietnam War. It was around that time that Robert decided he wanted to be a soldier, his father, Bob Seidel, said. At the age of 10, Robert also set his sights on attending the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from the school in 2004. Robert was buried last year on Memorial Day at the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg. He was killed May 18, 2006, while on routine patrol in Baghdad, when the Humvee he was riding in hit an improvised explosive device. About 1,200 people attended his funeral. Since his death, his parents Bob and Sandy Seidel, and brother Stephen, 21, often find themselves watching old home movies to see Robert's face and hear his voice. The family's strong faith has sustained them, Bob said. We know that he is in a better place, a place that we all hope to be someday. He is now our guardian angel that looks down on us, he wrote in an e-mail. Two months before Rob was deployed to Iraq, his father had a vivid dream of multiple flagdraped coffins. He awoke from it with tears running down his face. Two weeks later Sandy had a dream and awoke so upset that she had to get out of bed and go outside for a walk. It wasn't until after Robert's death that she told her husband that she had dreamt the doorbell rang and as she went to answer it, she could see an Army officer through the glass, Bob said. About a month after he was buried at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Emmitsburg, Robert's personal items were sent from Iraq back to his family, who now live in Gettysburg, Pa. Saved in his laptop computer was a short poem: "Bury me beneath that old oak tree, Down by the creek I used to play in as a child. And you will see. When you hear the bugle play, it plays for me. And my soul will carry on." Robert was buried within 20 feet of an oak tree. The creek where he played as a child is about 200 yards away, Bob said. The poem is now etched on his tombstone. Robert's family has started scholarships in his name one for seniors at Catoctin High School, where he graduated in 2000, and another to benefit wounded soldiers and their families staying at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Robert's family set up a fund with The Community Foundation of Frederick County where people could send donations. A senior will be awarded the first Catoctin High scholarship in June. Robert's family will visit West Point this fall when a wheelchair lift van will be presented to a severely wounded 10th Mountain Division soldier at the first Army home football game. The money to purchase the van was raised by Operation Support our Troops, which named it Rob's Van. A year after Robert's funeral, the family planned to attend several Memorial Day events in Gettysburg. Sandy said the family has received great support over the past year, from family and from strangers around the country. They also keep in touch with the 32 soldiers who were in Robert's platoon in Iraq. All of them say he could never be replaced, said Sandy, who takes solace in the fact that Robert was doing what he loved. On Wednesday the family will attend a ceremony in Thurmont to remember soldiers now serving and those who have died. With Robbie being buried on Memorial Day, it brings to light the true meaning of Memorial Day, Sandy said.

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