Connecticut Blue Star Mothers

Jordan C. Pierson

Jun 22, 1985 - Aug 25, 2006

Milford, CT

Visitation:

Friends may call on Sunday from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Cody-White Funeral Home.

Service Information :

A Memorial Service will be held on Monday, September 4 at 2 p.m. at the Calvary Evangelical Free Church, 498 White Plains Road, Trumbull.

Burial:

Interment will be held with Full Military Honors on Wednesday, September 6 at 2 p.m. at Arlington National Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Foran High School Scholarship Fund, 80 Foran Road, Milford, CT 06460 or the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation at http://www.mclef.org.

Click here for Service Information/Guestbook/Condolences.

Cody-White Funeral Service
107 Broad Street
Milford, CT 06460
(203) 874-0268
(203) 874-2459 Fax

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09/05/2006

Marine's life celebrated at memorial service

Phil Helsel , Register Staff


	Eric C. Pierson, right, with his wife, Beverly A. Pierson, follow their son’s casket after a memorial service for Cpl. Jordan C. Pierson, who was killed in Iraq. (Peter Hvizdak/Register photos)

As Milford Marine reservist Jordan Pierson was heading off to California for what would likely be preparation for overseas deployment to Iraq, the Rev. Randal Matthews of Calvary Evangelical Free Church asked Pierson what he was feeling.

"I asked him, ‘How do you feel, knowing that you’re being sent most likely to Iraq and knowing that you’ll go?’" Matthews recalled Monday at Pierson’s memorial service. "Jordan looked back at me and said, ‘I’m afraid.’

"I never knew that, as I looked him in the eye that day, that would be the last time I saw him, but I know I was looking into the eye of a hero."

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Pierson, 21, a 2003 graduate of Foran High School who put off his studies at the University of Connecticut to go to Iraq, was killed Aug. 25 by a sniper in Fallujah, just 60 days before his unit, the Plainville-based Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, was due to return home.

There was some laughter, but many more tears during the service at the Trumbull church as hundreds of friends, family members and supporters celebrated what was described as his short, but meaningful life. Pierson will be interred Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Pierson’s father, Eric C. Pierson, elicited chuckles from the crowd as he recalled how Jordan was a handful beginning at an early age — "his favorite word was ‘no,’" he said — and how he led a carefree and sometimes mischievous life before joining the U.S. Marine Reserves about three years ago. But just as his family marveled at the responsible, caring and dedicated young man he had become, his life was cut short during a foot patrol.

Pierson, who survived a grenade attack in May, was shot once in the shoulder by a sniper and died just after noon Aug. 25. He was the first Milford resident killed since the war began in March 2003.

"What is part of God’s plan in calling Jordan home at this point, I do not know," Eric Pierson said. "I will have to wait until I meet my creator to have that answer. God has given us all a purpose in life, even if that purpose is the ultimate sacrifice for God and country."

Eric Pierson finished his remarks by simply saying, "Goodbye, my son," as he looked down at the flag-draped coffin before him.

A Marine who served in Iraq alongside Pierson said through a eulogy given to the family that the energetic and fun-loving young man had often been a source of comfort for his fellow Marines, especially in times of danger and heartache.

"Corporal Pierson had been a bright spot in his platoon, in a place that can take the softest of hearts into a void of darkness," 1st Sgt. Ben Grainger said in a eulogy from Iraq that was read by Pierson’s uncle, Michael. "He carried us all through another day here on many occasions — We miss you Jordan."

Pierson’s friends said they were honored to have known him, and described Jordan as the most outgoing of their group, sometimes getting into trouble, and known for his goofy smile and distinct laugh.

One friend, Kyle O’Connor, called Pierson a "closet nerd" who liked to play online video games, as well as popping wheelies on his Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle.

"He was always doing anything for a laugh — watching him hit on girls was absolute comedy," O’Connor said. "The thing that impressed me most was his mannerisms. Honor was always a part of Jordan, even before he joined the Marines ... He inspired his friends to do better."

Another friend, Michael Amendola, recalled how when they were children in Florida, they called 911 and hung up the phone. When police and paramedics showed up at the house, they were both scared, but "afterward we were all smiles because we had pulled off the first of many mischievous pranks."

Most of the stories told by Jordan’s friends were the standard stuff of young men growing up. Nothing by itself was so remarkable, but to those who knew him, those stories are what comes most to mind when they think of their fallen friend.

But after he joined the Marine Reserves, everyone saw the changes. Instead of Pierson focusing on himself, the Rev. David McIntyre said, he worried about others. Just before he was killed, Pierson was promoted to corporal, and as a non-commissioned officer, he would eat last and wake up first to take care of the men under him.

Details about his death are sketchy, but McIntyre said there is evidence that Jordan was killed while making sure that the men in his squad were safe.

"(Pierson’s parents) Eric and Bev had seeded a few core values, and in the Marine Corps they found an exceedingly rich soil," McIntyre said. "Instead of ‘it’s all about me,’ it’s all about others — Jordan would want us to understand that."

Many politicians attended the service, including Gov. M. Jodi Rell; Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn.; U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4; Milford Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr., state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal; and Trumbull First Selectman Raymond G. Baldwin.

As Pierson’s casket was carried from Cody-White Funeral home on the Milford Green for the trip to the church, hundreds of people — veterans, Scouts and everyday folks as well — stood in silence, many holding U.S. flags.

The only sound was that of the flapping of the American and state flags against the aluminum pole in front of the funeral home as Marine pallbearers gently placed Pierson’s coffin into a hearse. The hearse was to be escorted to the New York line by 12 police officers on motorcycles from area towns, including Milford, Trumbull, Bridgeport and Orange.

In Trumbull, across the street from Calvary Evangelical Free Church, groups of supporters held banners reading "God Bless All Our Armed Forces," and "Blue Star Mothers & Fathers."

The Marines said that Pierson had participated in more than 100 patrols and 50 raids on enemy positions since his unit was deployed to Iraq in late March. He was wounded by shrapnel May 24, also in Fallujah, after an insurgent’s grenade exploded 10 feet away him, for which he received a Purple Heart. He received a Gold Star in lieu of another Purple Heart for the wound that killed him.

The service ended with the playing of Taps as seven Marines carried the flag-draped coffin to a waiting hearse. The funeral at Arlington will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Article Created: 9/05/2006 04:44 AM

Farewell to a Marine

'IMPISH' YOUTH WANTED TO DO SOMETHING WORTHWHILE

Connecticut Post Online

Milford turns out to honor Cpl. Pierson, slain by sniper's bullet in Iraq

Christian Abraham/Connecticut Post

The body of Marine Cpl. Jordan Pierson, top, is driven into the parking lot of Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Trumbull Monday. Above, a Marine hands the award of a Purple Heart to Pierson's mother, Beverly, during the service. Pierson, of Milford, was killed in Iraq in August.

John Galayda/Connecticut Post

Taylor Wisniewski, 5, of Milford, watches the funeral procession for Jordan Pierson along Broad Street in Milford Monday.

Christian Abraham/Connecticut Post

Dozens of bikers from various clubs ride into the parking lot at Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Trumbull Monday for the service for Marine Jordan Pierson. The bikers were organized by the Patriot Guard Riders Motorcycle Club of Connecticut. By MICHAEL P. MAYKO

mmayko@ctpost.com

Pictures, memories and anecdotes told the story of Jordan Pierson's short life.

Montages show him as an infant taking a first swim with mom, as a toddler sitting on Santa's lap and as a boy practicing martial arts.

Friends remember the Milford resident as a teen intensely focusing on video games, snacking at Taco Bell and Paul's Famous Hamburgers in his hometown, and his love for Honda CRXs and motorcycles. His peers write about Pierson the man who lost his "impish" and sometimes "nerdy" ways when he became a Marine, rising to the rank of corporal while serving in Iraq.

But it was a riderless horse — its back covered with a blanket of Marine crimson and gold, topped by an empty saddle, and carrying a pair of empty boots backward in the stirrups — that signified Cpl. Pierson's death two weeks ago.

A sniper snuffed out Pierson's life at just 21 years of age, while he was on patrol Aug. 25 in Fallujah, Iraq.

"In his next to last letter to me he wrote about walking the foot patrols while others were out on the periphery doing security work and guard duty," said Walter Pierson, the Marine's grandfather. "He said he'd much rather be there doing something worthwhile, like the patrols, than some boring duty."

For more than four hours Monday — Labor Day, a national holiday of rest and relaxation for millions — a community turned out to praise and grieve, cry and laugh with Pierson's family and friends as Connecticut said goodbye to its latest sacrifice to the war in Iraq.

"There are ways we plan to permanently memorialize Jordan," said Milford Mayor James A. Richetelli Jr. "But we'll wait until after the burial in Arlington National Cemetery."

A hearse led by a motorcade of state and local police carried Pierson's body from the Cody-White Funeral Home in Milford past lines of flag-waving mourners, including the Blue Star Mothers, to the Calvary Evangelical Free Church on White Plains Road in Trumbull for a funeral service Monday afternoon.

"He was just a young kid," said John Cassidy of Trumbull, one of those standing on White Plains Road paying tribute. "He didn't deserve to die someplace else. He deserved to die in his bed I'm tired of seeing young Marines die and be buried."

Outside the church, seven members of Pierson's Plainville-based 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment of the 4th Marine Division, marched forward to unload the casket.

That's when retired Marine Sgt. Rick Kowalker of the Marine Corps League in New Britain handed the reins of Melody, the riderless horse, to another Marine.

For the 32nd time since January, Kowalker found himself honoring another fallen member of the nation's military in New England. He stepped exactly six paces in front of his horse, drew his sword, and held it upward as he turned and saluted the empty saddle. He then returned the sword to its sheath and stepped back alongside his horse. "The boots are placed backwards to show he's looking back on his military career one last time," Kowalker said.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Lt. Gov. Kevin Sullivan, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Christopher Shays, and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal were among the officials in attendance.

They heard the Rev. David McIntyre of Calvary church welcome the mourners to the service for three reasons.

"The first is to celebrate the life of Jordan Pierson," he said. He said the second and third reasons were to "comfort a grieving family" and "grow closer to God." Eric Pierson, the Marine's father, stepped forward and, in a moving eulogy, recalled the gray hairs his late son gave him.

Like the day when kindergartner Jordan slammed down a desk top, spraying a cleanser on it into a classmate's eyes.

Or the day 11-year-old Jordan dashed into the street and was struck by a pickup. And there was the middle school project on growth and movement for which Jordan drew an AK-47 ejecting shells that won him a suspension.

Pierson said his son's "journey into manhood began with that decision to join the Marines. The discipline he learned at boot camp carried forward into his improved study habits and the ability to show compassion and assist his friends in tough times."

Gloria Amendola, a friend since the third grade of Pierson's mother, Beverly, recalled how her son Michael and the fallen Marine grew up together.

Amendola said whenever she hears a "whisper in the wind" or sees "the magic of a rainbow" she'll think of Pierson.

Friends like Michael Amendola and Kyle O'Connor recalled Pierson's "impish smile," "nerdish look" and video game proficiency.

"Watching him hit on girls was pure comedy," O'Connor said. "He'd always say the wrong thing at the wrong time."

But watching Pierson play a video game was a thing of beauty, the friend said. "He never gloated He respected his opponent immensely He inspired his friends to do better," O'Connor said, his voice cracking with emotion.

McIntyre acknowledged that the young Marine had been a handful for his parents in his younger days.

"If Eric and Bev said hot, he'd say cold. If they said quiet, he'd get loud. He had his own agenda," McIntrye said.

But the Marines changed that, the minister said. Pierson's youthful "it's-all-about-me" attitude remarkably changed into one that was "all about others," McIntyre said.

At the end, it was the others who gave back.

A contingent from the Patriot Guard motorcyclists joined the motorcade and will follow it to Arlington National Cemetery to ensure that protesters do not disrupt it.

On Wednesday, Pierson will be buried in Arlington.

That's a fitting tribute, said Dr. Robert Nolan, an orthopedic surgeon who practices in Ansonia and knows the Piersons.

"He was so patriotic, so proud to be a Marine," Nolan said outside the church after the service. "This was definitely his calling."

Fallen Marine Funeral Slideshow, click here

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Sep 14, 2006
Wilton community mourns, hundreds say goodbye to Nicholas Madaras
type=text/javascript> </SCRIPT> By Jeff Yates

Hundreds of Wiltonians paid their respects to Nicholas Madaras, 19, a Wilton resident who was killed in Iraq on Sept. 3. —Scott Mullin photo

Christopher Madaras hugged the American flag close to his chest after it was removed from his brother Nicholas’s coffin during the funeral on Tuesday.

With full military honors, and with his family, friends, teammates, coaches, Army officials and hundreds of others from the military, emergency response and Wilton communities looking on, U.S. Army Private First Class Nicholas Madaras, 19, of Signal Hill Road, was laid to rest at Hillside Cemetery on Tuesday.

A phalanx of military and police officials attended the funeral, providing Pfc. Madaras with a distinguished escort of two dozen motorcycles to his final resting place, where taps was played, soldiers fired an honorary three-shot salute, and the mournful sounds of bagpipes playing Amazing Grace filled the air.

Brig. Gen. Nicholas Justice presented the American flag to Pfc. Madaras’ 10-year-old brother Christopher, and chose three of the medals Pfc. Madaras had earned — the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Army Good Conduct Medal — to present to his mother Shalini, his father William and his sister Marie, 17, and a senior at Wilton High School.

The Purple Heart, said Brig. Gen. Justice, was the oldest medal given for military service, and had been first presented by General George Washington to soldiers in Newburgh, N.Y., in 1782 for injuries sustained while fighting in the Revolutionary War.

Following the military honors, the Madaras family, followed by friends, teammates, coaches and other mourners, slowly filed past the grave, saying a last good-bye and placing a red rose on Pfc. Madaras’s coffin.

Ms. Madaras, overcome with emotion, collapsed next to her son’s coffin, wrapping it in an embrace, before being pulled into the comforting arms of her family.

Saying good-bye

Many came Monday to say good-bye to Pfc. Madaras at a wake at Our Lady of Fatima Church, where young men who had played with him on the soccer field, and others who had served with him in Iraq, paid their respects, joined the family in mourning and talked about the Nick they knew growing up, the hard charging, always intense — yet first to crack a joke — soccer player and soldier who had left his mark on their lives.

On Tuesday, hundreds more filled Our Lady of Fatima, standing in the aisles and outside the church as it filled to capacity and beyond, joining in the Mass celebrating Pfc. Madaras’s life, and honoring him for his ultimate sacrifice, when he was killed by an improvised explosive device during combat operations in Baqubah, Iraq, on Sept. 3.

Some said they did not know Pfc. Madaras well, or did not know him at all, but wanted to pay their respects and thank him for his service, and sacrifice, to his country. Others there were close friends who had left college, military service, and their lives behind to come home to say a final good-bye.

“The thing he always told me was to just relax,” said Thomas Thresher of Heather Lane, a close friend and former teammate who delivered a eulogy at the church.

Mr. Thresher said he had difficulty coming to terms with his friend’s death, and spent much of the early hours after being notified trying to make sense of the loss of his friend.

“Finally it hit me,” he said during the church service. “I didn’t need to make peace with the way he died ... I found peace with the way he lived.”

Pfc. John Cevasco, Pfc. Madaras’s friend and roommate in the Army and in Iraq, where they served together in the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Carson, Colo., remembered his brother-in-arms as a dedicated soldier who was always there to support his unit, and often reminded him to relax, and enjoy life.

The two often talked of home while in Iraq, said Pfc. Cevasco, and of what they wanted to do with their lives.

Pfc. Madaras’s generosity and connection with children was also evident in Iraq, he said.

“He both loved them and pitied them,” he said. “He was always making friends with one of the kids. He’d give them candy, or whatever else” he had in the vehicle.

Community response

Wilton police officers were in full force to support Pfc. Madaras and his family during the funeral, closing off Route 7 and Ridgefield Road, blocking all side traffic as well, to allow the funeral procession an unimpeded journey to the cemetery.

Along the way many Wiltonians who could not attend the ceremony stood along the road — some clutching American flags — to honor Pfc. Madaras as he passed by. At Wilton town hall, firefighters raised a large American flag on a ladder truck, extending it high over Route 7 as the procession passed by, the firefighters and other town employees standing nearby.

Joining in mourning were many officials including Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Congressman Christopher Shays, State Senator Judith Freedman and State Reps. Toni Boucher and John Hetherington.

Pfc. Madaras was also remembered by the town at Monday’s Sept. 11 memorial ceremony, with many saying the anguish and confusion of that day five years ago was brought to mind and made more visceral by the death of such a young member of the community.

“Today is particularly somber for us in Wilton as this war against terrorism has once again struck home,” said Police Chief Edward Kulhawik. “Five years later we are grieving yet another loss of life, this time for a serviceman named Nick Madaras [who was 19] — what a tragedy. Nick died so that we can enjoy the freedoms we so much cherish.”

At Our Lady of Fatima School, students and teachers remembered Pfc. Madaras with a moment of silence on Monday.

“He freely volunteered and joined the military. He felt a duty and an obligation to become a member of the services to fight for what he believed in,” said Fire Chief Paul Milositz during the Sept. 11 ceremony. “I will always remember the ultimate sacrifice that was given to me and to you and to those of us who will never know his name.”

Please view and/or sign the Memory Book on Legacy for the family of PFC Nicholas A. Madaras

Click Here:

http://www.legacy.com/gazette/GB/GuestBookView.aspx?PersonID=19146268

http://www.courant.com/news/local/statewire/hc-06071351.apds.m0250.bc-ct--soldsep06,0,4140106.story

Army private from Wilton killed in Iraq

Associated Press

September 6 2006

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The war in Iraq has claimed a third Connecticut servicemen in just over a week.

Pfc. Nicholas A. Madaras, 19, of Wilton, was killed Sunday when an explosive device blew up near his patrol. The Defense Department confirmed his death on Tuesday. Marine Lance Cpl. Philip A. Johnson, 19, of Enfield, also was killed Sunday and Marine Cpl. Jordan Pierson died Aug. 25.

"This is a tremendously sad day for Connecticut," Gov. M. Jodi Rell said in a statement. "The past several days have been very sad ones for the people of our state."

Rell ordered that U.S. and state flags remain at half staff to honor the men. Funeral arrangements for Madaras and Johnson are pending. Pierson will be buried Wednesday in Arlington National Cemetery.

Madaras was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division based in Fort Carson, Colo. His patrol was in Baqubah, northwest of Baghdad, when the bomb exploded.

Johnson was killed Sunday morning with one other Marine as his unit was traveling from Ramadi, family spokesman Ron Jackman said. Pierson, 21, was fatally shot during combat in Al Anbar province.

William Madaras said Tuesday he honored and approved of his son's decision to join the Army.

"He felt the Army was good for him. He never regretted for a minute enlisting in the Army," Madaras told The Advocate of Stamford. "I feel that at that point in his life, it was a very brave and strong decision to make. It was a good decision to make."

A 2005 graduate of Wilton High School, Madaras was on the soccer team for four years and wrote for the school's literary magazine.

The high school held a moment of silence on Tuesday to remember Madaras.

"He was somebody with a lot of inner strength and desire who carried out his responsibilities at the high school quite well," Principal Robert O'Donnell said. "He was a very important member of the school community here."

Guidance counselor, Dann Pompa, received an e-mail from Madaras last year while he was serving in Iraq and Madaras discussed going to college when he returned to the United States.

"He was looking to maybe be a registered nurse," Pompa said. "That attests a lot to the kind of person he was."

Pompa described Madaras as genuine, caring and considerate to those around him. He said Madaras decided to join the Army in his senior year.

"If somebody was hobbling, he'd ask what happened," he said. "It's not just the words, it's the genuineness behind those words."

"This is a very tight knit school community in general so our hearts certainly go out to the family," O'Donnell said.

U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., whose district includes Wilton, expressed his condolences on behalf of the 4th Congressional District.

"Nicholas left school, joined the Army and committed to serving our country," Shays said. "He has made the ultimate sacrifice."

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

No. 1201-06
November 28, 2006

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle Nov. 26 in Baghdad, Iraq.

Killed were:

Capt. Jason R. Hamill, 31, of New Haven, Conn.

1st Lt. David M. Fraser, 25, of Texas.

Pvt. Joshua C. Burrows, 20, of Bossier City, La.

Hamill and Fraser were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Burrows was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Bridade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the Fort Hood public affairs office at (254) 287-9993.

CPL. JORDAN C. PIERSON