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SUNNY Temp: 64 °F Wind: N at 4 mph Saturday, June 14, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend May 11, 2003 He may be half a world away, but Marine Corps Sgt. Shawn Clark, 28, didn�t forget to send a Mother�s Day greeting to his wife, Jami Clark, from aboard the USS Duluth in the Middle East. Young moms await soldiers’ homecoming By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune Sixty-two days and a wake-up. That’s the countdown for Jami Clark, patiently waiting in her home at Camp Pendleton, Calif., on this Mother’s Day. Her husband, Marine Corps Sgt. Shawn Clark, 28, a 1994 graduate of North Medford High School, is expected home July 12, the day the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit arrives stateside from Iraq. "This is the first Mother’s Day that Shawn hasn’t been home with us," she said in a telephone interview. "It will be difficult. The kids talk about him all the time. Advertisement "I just keep telling them that Daddy will be home soon," she added. "But it sure would have been great if he had made it home in time for Mother’s Day." The Clarks have two children, Brandon, 5, and Makayla, nearly 2. The son of Bud and Mary Clark of Medford and a member of the 1993 North Medford state champion football team, Sgt. Clark shipped out on Jan. 6 aboard the USS Duluth bound for the Middle East. "We all stood on the dock watching him leave — that was really hard," his wife said. "He had left (on assignment) for a couple of months at a time before, but never for something like this. It’s been pretty difficult." She is among the countless young moms whose husbands are still serving in the Middle East this Mother’s Day. Although the conflict is quickly disappearing from the national consciousness, this day reminds young mothers like Jami Clark that their loved ones remain half a world away. The young mothers know the young fathers potentially remain in harm’s way. Saddam Hussein’s government may have been crushed a month ago, but hostilities still pop up. Two American soldiers were killed Thursday in separate shootings in Baghdad. In addition, at least one soldier was injured when a U.S. vehicle hit an explosive in part of Baghdad believed to have been cleared of land mines. Another young mom waiting at Camp Pendleton is Erin Van Daele, the wife of Marine Sgt. Michael Van Daele. His parents, mom Martina and stepdad Ken Wearstler, live in Eagle Point. Erin Van Daele has a Mother’s Day gift for her husband in the form of baby Nicholas. He arrived on March 19, the day war was declared on Iraq. Their oldest child, Lorelei, is 15 months old. "Nicholas was born about two hours after the official start of the war," Erin Van Daele said. "It’s been a difficult few weeks, adjusting to our newborn and worrying about Mike." Sgt. Van Daele, 28, is with the 1st Regiment, 3rd Battalion, a unit known as the "Thundering Third." The 3/1 was deployed to the Middle East last June, staying until December. They returned to Kuwait in January. "I’m ecstatic the war is over," his wife said. "That’s my Mother’s Day gift. But I’ll be so happy when he’s home, safe and sound." When she spoke with her husband a week ago, he was in Iraq, somewhere between Baghdad and Kuwait, she said. "He sounds great," she said. "He just wants to see Nicholas and Lorelei so bad." The young family doesn’t know when their father and husband will be returning home. "We’re hoping it’s soon," his wife said. "We don’t have any special plans for Mother’s Day. "Of course, every day is kind of like Mother’s Day to me now," she added. "I love my children so much." Meanwhile, Sgt. Clark, a "short timer" in military parlance when it comes to returning to the states, didn’t forget Mother’s Day. He sent home via e-mail a photograph Friday evening taken of him back aboard the USS Duluth. He is holding up a Mother’s Day greeting sign. Noting her husband is a squared-away Marine as well as a great father, Jami Clark said she went through a three-week period when she hadn’t heard from him because of his duties during the conflict. "That was a very difficult time for us," she said. However, a support group dubbed "Key Volunteers" helped her and other young mothers through it, she said. "They are all military wives whose husbands are over there," she says. "They’d call around to keep us up to speed. But one thing they told us was not to watch the news. I tried not to watch it." Watching it each day tends to add stress to a young family, she noted. But communications between the young couples were encouraged. "It was so wonderful when we got a letter from him, saying how much he loves and misses us," she said. With the conflict largely over, she can now talk to her husband periodically. "He keeps asking about the children," she said. As for Mother’s Day, she will be preparing to move on Monday to a house about 10 blocks from where they currently live. The move is a surprise for her husband. "We’ve known we were going to move before he left," she explained. "He told me he trusted my judgment to pick a place. "We’re trying to keep it a secret from him until he gets here," she added. "We’ll videotape his reaction when he gets here." Finding the new house will be her belated Father’s Day gift, she noted. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Observing Mother’s Day The idea for a Mother’s Day observance was born more than 130 years ago in the United States. Social reformer and poet Julia Ward Howe first suggested it, calling for a special observance each June 2 as a day dedicated to peace. She held her observance for several years in Boston. That observance failed to catch on with the public. The mother of today’s Mother’s Day was Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia. Originally from Grafton, W. Va., where she had taught Sunday school with her mother, she began a campaign to set aside the second Sunday in May to honor mothers. The first observance was held May 10, 1908, when churches in both towns recognized maternal contributions. The movement spread across the nation. President Woodrow Wilson made it official in 1914 when he signed a resolution making it a national observance every second Sunday in May. 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