On CNN Tonight, January 5, 2007 A Tribute

UPDATE:
I've bumped this to the top because CNN will re-air "Ambush at the River of Secrets" tonight at 11:00pm. If you missed it Tuesday here is your chance to see it.

Someone once said, "A man lives as long as he is remembered", Socrates maybe, I don't know who to attribute it to. I do know who to apply it to, though. Marine Reservist Cpl. Jonathan Williams Bowling, a native of Patrick County and a Martinsville police officer. 23 year old Bowling was stationed in Haditha, in the Anbar province of Iraq, on the morning of January 26 two years ago. Before that day was ended, Jonathan had given his life in service to his country, and his fellow Marines.

Jonathan was and is remembered. According to a Martinsville Bulletin story dated Feb.3, 2005, five thousand or more attended his memorial service at Patrick County High School. There have been numerous memorial ceremonies held here since, ranging from a motorcycle ride each April dedicated to raising funds for the Cpl. Jonathan Bowling Memorial Scholarship Fund, which is administered by the Patrick County Education Foundation, to a memorial day ceremony at Carver Memorial Garden in 2005, and including a flagpole dedication at the local State Police Headquarters in Ridgeway.

Jonathan will also be remembered this evening, at 10:00pm, on CNN. A special episode of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 will feature Jonathan's unit, and that day in January of 2005, when their convoy was ambushed in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

Titled "Ambush at the River of Secrets", the show will detail the events that led to the death of not only Marine Reservist Cpl. Jonathan Williams Bowling, but also Lance Cpl. Karl R. Linn, 20, of Chesterfield, Cpl. Christopher L. Weaver, 24, of Fredericksburg, and Sgt. Jesse W. Strong, 24, of Irasburg, Vt., all members of the Marine Corps Reserves 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, 4th Marine Division, headquartered in Lynchburg.

According to Darrell Bowling, VA State Trooper and father of Jonathan, the tribute will begin by focusing on the unit itself, where they were when activated, and other personal details.

Bowling tells Debbie Hall, a Martinsville Bulletin reporter that the midway point of the special will focus on the attack, and the remainder of the program concentrates on surviving family members. "I would like to caution people that in order to tell the story, they have to show the attack", Bowling tells Ms. Hall. "And there will be actual footage of the attack itself," he added, "It's just something you’ve got to do. If it gets Jon's name out there, it's worth it".

UPDATE:
As noted above, this tribute will contain actual footage of the attack on Bowling's unit. It is apparently graphic, but Jon's father suggests we all need to see it.

For those whose sensibilities are too delicate to witness such scenes, (Waldo), and for those who wept for Saddam Hussein upon the occasion of his execution, (Howling Latina) might I suggest this alternative programming?

The TVLand, 11:00pm. -- M*A*S*H Marathon