Saturday, March 31, 2007
Courtesy photo by
Sgt. Edmund McDonald, 25, who grew up in Casco, was killed this week in a vehicle accident in Afghanistan.
Staff photo by Jack Milton
Edmund McDonald's mother, Kathy McDonald, and her husband, John Williams, remember their son on Friday at their home in Casco. McDonald died in a vehicle accident in Afghanistan this week. His sister, Chris Cronin, stands behinds them.
CASCO - Tears mingled with laughter Friday as Sgt. Edmund McDonald's large Irish clan pored over pictures they had gathered after learning of his death in Afghanistan.
What a hippie he is in that picture with that long hair! He always wanted to be from the 1970s.
Remember how impossible it was to wake him up?
He was so scared of heights, he wouldn't even climb up three rungs of a ladder, recalled the older of two cousins named Mike McDonald.
To his mother, it almost felt like he was in the room, smiling wider than everybody else.
"Ed's with us right now," said Kathy McDonald, who oversees a Head Start program in Casco. "Without Ed in our hearts, we wouldn't get through it."
The family learned on Thursday morning that the 25-year-old Army sergeant had been killed the day before while on convoy duty, when the vehicle he was riding in tipped over.
He is the 31st service member with ties to Maine to die in Afghanistan or Iraq, and the state's second casualty in a week.
Sgt. Jason Swiger of South Portland was killed on Sunday by a suicide bomber in Iraq.
Both men belonged to the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, N.C., and were on their third tours of duty.
McDonald had just bought a house near the base with his wife of nearly three years, Melissa, a fellow student from Lake Region High School in Naples.
McDonald had committed to a career in the military.
Before he enlisted in late 2003, he bounced between positions such as a preschool teacher, a construction worker and a high school janitor. The military could have been the farthest thing from his mind, which was preoccupied with guitar-playing and the Grateful Dead.
McDonald used to say that he would move to Canada if the draft was ever activated.
But when one of his best friends, the younger of the two Mikes, told him of his experiences at Army boot camp, McDonald realized that he yearned for the same kind of structure and discipline in his life.
"He knew he needed a lifestyle change," said Mike McDonald, who is 25 and lives in Portland.
His first two deployments were to Iraq.
In April 2005, during his second tour, McDonald was one of three Maine servicemen who spoke with loved ones via a live satellite feed during the Heroes Parade in Portland.
An estimated crowd of 30,000 attended the event to honor the troops as well as the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
"Hey, who's there from the Patriots?" McDonald asked.
His family said that during his time in the Army, McDonald did everything from conquering his fear of heights to becoming a mentor for other soldiers.
He always made sure that no one felt left out, and asked his older sister, Chris Cronin of Portland, to organize letter-writing campaigns to soldiers. He shared presents he got from the community and relatives.
"Except for the brownies," Cronin said.
Cronin said that even after he cut his hair and learned to follow a regimented lifestyle, McDonald remained his tender-hearted self.
He called her son's preschool from Iraq on the boy's third birthday, she said.
He showered his family with presents, including paintings he that commissioned from artists when he was in Iraq.
One of them -- a portrait of his beloved Jessie, the deceased family dog -- hangs amid the antler displays at his mother's house.
Always thinking of his family, McDonald said his duties in Afghanistan were restricted to those of a mechanic.
Only his cousin, the younger Mike, knew that he was traveling with convoys.
Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell contributed to this story.
Staff Writer Josie Huang can be contacted at 791-6364 or at:
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