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Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Goan Falls in Iraq by V. M. de Malar (From O Heraldo, Sept 22) Just 19, Nicholas Madaras of the US Army had almost completed his tour of duty, and was making plans to study medicine. The soft-eyed son of William and Shalini (nee Coutinho) Madaras, with maternal roots in Cuncolim and Loutolim, was on foot patrol in the Iraqi town of Baq'uba when a makeshift bomb badly wounded him. The teenage soldier died soon after, in the arms of his grieving sergeant, another casualty in the troubled campaign that has claimed the lives of almost 3000 Americans, and an estimated 100,000 Iraqis. Beyond mere statistics, Nick Madaras's death strikes home all the way to his Konkan homeland. It has affected family and friends across our scattered diaspora, in Australia, the U.K. and beyond. And it highlights a somber thread in our culture – Goan men have served and died on foreign fields, under foreign flags, for generations. It's clear from his memorial website ( www.nicholasmadaras.com) that Nick's 19 years constituted a rich and valuable life. The tributes are heart-breaking – a mother who lost a son in Iraq writes "we have…joined a group none of us wanted to join", an infantry comrade writes, "I will think about him every day for the rest of my life." A classmate says, "he was like a brother to me," and a teacher admits "he was one of the most unusual, interesting students that I've had in a long career." There are revealing photos – the young Goan-American on the soccer field, poised and balanced, clearly a leader. And more that are hard to look at now– with adoring kid brother Christopher and sister Marie, with parents Shalini and Bill. They illustrate the transition from baby-faced kid to teenager. Then the photo wearing battle fatigues, and the story stops abruptly, permanently. Madaras was buried less than 24 hours after the anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center towers. The incidents are closely related – the Goan-American lived in a town full of commuters to the business district targeted. More than 60 Connecticut residents died –the state was swept up along with the rest of the USA in a national determination to strike back. As we know, this admirable instinct has been controversially diverted away from Afghanistan and Al Qaeda. Instead, the Bush administration has used rage about 9/11 to trigger a military occupation in the heart of the Arab world. The Iraq campaign has been plagued with setbacks, and promising young men continue to die while pursuing fast-receding objectives. Madaras wasn't your average American grunt. His multicultural background and looks set him apart. He was sensitive to locals, especially children who loved soccer as much as he did. His mother says "Nick always wanted us to send him candy and things to give out", and asked for soccer balls to share with Iraqi kids. She writes, "he grew up very proud of his American and Goan/Indian heritage." This background showed, at his funeral another soldier serving in Baq'uba testified that Nick "loved and honoured" Iraqis. "He wanted them to know he was there to keep them safe, " said Pfc. John Cevasco, "he knew he was there to do the right thing, and he never stopped trying to do it." There are two sides to this very sad story. Nick Madaras was an American patriot who died for his beloved country. But this son of Goa also fits into our own tragic continuum of lives lost on foreign soil, fighting alien wars. In Iraq itself, thousands of Indians lie in disgracefully unmarked graves, casualties of a previous, pointless imperial campaign. Goans served the British military for generations, in Malaya, Singapore and beyond. We served the Portuguese military, most notably in Mozambique where a Mhapsekar carved out an entire kingdom for the Europeans. We know that 700 Goans died at sea during World War II alone. And here's historical irony, one who almost died was Thomas Coutinho, who survived a sunk ship to become Chief Reporter for Sir Pherozeshah Mehta's Bombay Chronicle, whose daughter, Shalini, is Nicholas Madaras's mother. The past is always with us, and the hurt is always the same when one of our own falls, no matter how far away. Rest in Peace, Nicholas Madaras. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/attachments/20060922/a789c3af/attachment.html _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org