Fallen Soldiers Have Chance to Live on in Cyberspace

On December 26, 2006 Army Pvt. Clinton Tyler McCormick did not know that he was going to die the next day. He logged onto his MySpace.com account and went on with his duties. On December 27 an improvised bomb exploded and killed the 21-year-old.

In the wake of his death people came together to show support for him, his friends and his family. Many of these people started to find the digital fingerprints left by the troops of the Iraq war. These fingerprints, left on MySpace, Facebook and other sites, allow the memories of any troops who have passed to let people know about their lives, interests and the war.

McCormick's MySpace page has been unchanged since his death. MySpace policy dictates that no one else can control his page. Also, MySpace does not delete a profile because of inactivity. This allows his friends and anyone else to leave comments on the page.

Statistics show that three quarters of the troops killed in Iraq are under the age of 30. Many of these men and women are internet literate. Just like in wars of the past (this is the first war since the major proliferation of the internet) soldiers can communicate with loved ones. Unlike the letters soldiers used to send, the soldiers of today can now add pictures, music and graphics to their messages.

This is the first time in the history of war that the public can get a more intimate portrait of their lives and experiences in the war. No one is filtering the war for them, the troops post and talk about the war from their direct experiences.

Pages of soldiers and memorial pages show squads, platoons, landscapes, and even the occasional joke. All of this comes directly from the speaker, not the nightly news.

Clinton Tyler McCormick was 21, lived in Jacksonville, Fla. In his blog he talks about a demotion and his thoughts on whether or not to re-enlist. His frontpage shows personality tests. The pictures on the page show how he may have felt about his position in the war. The background is a picture of a bald eagle imposed above the burning towers of the World Trade Cetner. Friends and family members, both before and after his death, leave comments professing their love and how much they miss him.

Even death comes to the page. On the day he was killed a friend of Tyler's (he preferred to go by his middle name) posted the news for all to see. There are bible passages, personal condolences and messages from his fiancé.

These messages and the profile give people an outlet to deal with his death. His fiancé leaves messages whenever she misses him.

There are other memorial pages on MySpace. Some of them are personal and others act as a sounding board for anything to do with the troops.

Some of the larger memorial pages are there to list those fallen in combat or let people know about some cause or situation. Operation Iraqi Freedom Memorial is run by a 19-year-old college student in the ROTC program and is a tribute to all those fallen in battle. Operation Making Change is a non-profit organization founded, as they state, to help the troops in any way possible. Even the Iraq War Veterans Organization has a MySpace page.

The Veterans History Project is involved in understanding this new phenomenon. While they have typically dealt with the letters of the past the Project understands and encourages the use of MySpace by the troops. The government is currently in the middle of changing their rules on how troops can access the internet. MySpace and other pages will be illegal to access through Department of Defense computers.

Tyler's page still sees activity. The last posted comment is on May 14. It is a message of love and sadness. Just like the mantra said by those that still live on, Clinton Tyler McCormick has fallen but is not forgotten.

For the profiles of fallen soldiers and the Veteran's History Project, visit:

Clinton McCormick's MySpace page: http://profile.myspace.com/65811933

Nathaniel Given's MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/natearmy2005

Johnathon Millican's MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/haiyoto

Veterans History Project: http://www.loc.gov/vets/

Originally reported by Kasie Hunt.
"Internet self-portraits memorialize many of Iraq war's fallen" by Kasie Hunt.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/25/america/25ghosts.php