Spc. Christopher Moon, infantryman with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team….son.

My youngest daughter’s (Maggie) softball practice was over at 7:30 tonight and, as I was loading my car, I realized I had a flat tire. Cussing and cursing, we were on the road in about 30 minutes.

Then, I spent the drive home thinking about how I was going to pay for Brittney’s college tuition and what kind of advice I’m supposed to be giving to my oldest daughter, Arianna, who will be junior at Arizona this fall but has already been offered a job.

It was one of those nights. A night replayed in thousands of homes by thousands of parents I’m sure.

I came home sweaty and dirty, too upset to shower, and opened my email and saw a few photographs a father had sent me of a group of boys gathering around their baseball coach over at Cherry Field.

Tucson High coach Oscar Romero had gathered his kids around him and spoke to them about Chris Moon.

The everyday problems we face with our children seem so insignificant in comparison.

Problems will come and they will go. There is always a solution – good or bad.

Brian and Marsha Moon, like thousands of other parents who have lost a child, are in a different world – a world that other parents fear and a world that we cannot understand and we pray to God that we will never know.

If only his dad could give him one more piece of advice or if his mom could drive him home from practice just one more time.

It put my worries away for while.

—–

Chris was wounded by a roadside bomb on July 6. He was being treated at a hospital in Germany after his doctors amputated both of his legs but he died Tuesday morning.

The 82nd Airborne in Kandahar issued a statement Wednesday morning. According to his company’s 1st Sergeant, Derek Gondek, “Spc. Moon was the type of person we have all heard of but have very seldom ever met. He was one of those men who no matter what he put his mind to he became a star at it, whether it was on the baseball field or on the battlefield. He will truly be missed by his fellow war fighters.”

The statement contained a long list of honors Moon had attained, which include Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Basic Parachutist Badge.

Oh, by the way, Chris was also the Southern Arizona high school baseball Player of the Year in 2006.

By all accounts, Chris was on his way to a successful baseball career, having signed with Arizona. Arizona was to be a stepping stone to a lucrative professional career but not for Chris.

Like Pat Tillman before him, Chris had a calling to serve our country in the military. He didn’t have to. He wanted to.

How many of us could give up a game played by little boys and girls for a duty completed by anonymous men and women?

How many of us could do it when the game has a promise of financial reward and the duty might come at the ultimate price?

It is not heroic to drive a ball over a fence but it is heroic to put your body in harm’s way so that we might be safe.

I do not know the correct words to use or what phrases will bring comfort to Brian and Marsha Moon.

I do know that their country is grateful. I know their city is grateful. I know my family is grateful.

But those are only words – you paid too high a cost for our gratitude.

—–

A young Chris with his sister Sunday family photo

An open letter from a baseball parent to our community:

Last night the hundred or so fans in the stands watching the fifty or so players play a seemingly insignificant Legion baseball game at Cherry Field witnessed something that was very emotional for me to see.

Although I did not know what I was watching at the time I suspected that Coach Oscar Romero and Coach Michael Castaneda pulled both teams together to talk about a fallen hero: one of our own, Chris Moon and the many sacrifices that men and women all over the United States do to protect and serve their country.

While the normally stoic Oscar Romero, who broke down talking to the boys – not young men – my son Joseph Serrano included, listened intently and learned about how much is really sacrificed so that they could play a game last night.

These young men took the time to pray for Chris Moon and his family. Chris Moon was supposed to be transported back to Dover that day along with his family and most probably distraught. I know that I cannot bear to think that if that was our son I would surely feel lost.

To the Chris Moon family, the Tucson High Baseball family an all of the baseball community we should honor this fallen hero and the coaches that took the time to make our boys know how much sacrifice is made on their behalf.

Thank you, Nathan Serrano

—–

The Tucsoncitizen.com Southern Arizona Baseball Player of the Year Award will named after Chris Moon.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 10:42 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: chris moon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.