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March 22, 2003
Mom frets for son in front lines of attack
By ANNE GEGGIS | News-Journal Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH — News that the United States had suffered the war´s first combat death early Friday from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force hit Brenda Sexton harder than most Americans – the oldest of her three sons is in that division.
The DeLand mother was trying hard not to worry too much about Lance Cpl. Chris Sexton being on the front lines of the force plowing through the oilfields of Al Rumeila.
The 2001 DeLand High School graduate called his mother March 15 from outside Kuwait City to tell her his unit was on the move toward the Iraqi border and it would be the last time they would be able to speak for a while.
“He´s in the line of fire now,” she said of her son who turns 21 in May. “He´s in the infantry and that´s what they do: shoot guns.”
Sexton and two high school buddies shipped out to the fabled Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island, S.C., four weeks before hijacked planes shook the nation´s sense of security at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania farm field. His two friends have been shipped to stateside duty, but Sexton´s first overseas posting was at “Camp Shoup,” outside Kuwait City.
His mother said she feels a mixture of pride and anxiety.
“I have to be proud and support him, but you do have some anxiety. Especially with what he´s doing now,” Brenda Sexton said. “We keep our faith. And that´s what´s keeping us going.”