Two men linked by the death of a sailor -
W.Va. grave cements dad-Navy officer bond

Published Monday, April 18, 2005
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer

The two men each called Joseph Ashley son.

One was the father of the young man from New Franklin.

The other was the commander of the submarine where 24-year-old Ashley, a sailor, died in an accident in January.

On a green hillside cemetery in West Virginia this weekend, the two men comforted each other and prayed together as they placed a Navy marker at the sailor's grave.

Navy Cmdr. Kevin Mooney drove most of the day Saturday from Washington, D.C., to Reedy, a small town about 200 miles south of Akron, and the place where several generations of Ashleys have lived.

Following the accident, Mooney was relieved of his command on the USS San Francisco and six sailors were disciplined. The nuclear submarine, based in Guam, went aground Jan. 8 while on maneuvers in the western Pacific.

Nearly 100 sailors were injured, 23 of them seriously enough that they were not able to stand duty on the ship's trip back to Guam, the Navy reported in February.

In the three months since Ashley's death Jan. 9, Ashley's parents, Dan and Vicki Ashley, and Mooney have developed a deep bond. At the center of the relationship is Joseph "Joey" Ashley, a machinist's mate 2nd class who graduated from Manchester High School in 1999.

Late Saturday afternoon, the commander met the grieving father in a parking lot a few miles from the cemetery.

The two men hugged.

"It's not far now," Dan Ashley said.

Mooney was not able to attend the sailor's funeral in January, so this was his first chance to visit the grave. Joey had told his grandmother that he wanted to be buried here when he died. The men turned their cars onto a single-lane road that quickly turned to gravel, winding through the stunning green April countryside.

They stopped briefly at Dan Ashley's parents' house. Mooney opened his car trunk, reached for his uniform and pulled off one of the pins, his command star.

"It's my most prized possession," Mooney said. "It's for Joey."

The two men then climbed into Dan Ashley's Suburban and headed down to Fox Cemetery. They carried the white marker, some flags and tools to the grave near two large cedar trees.

The day before, Dan Ashley had poured concrete foundations here for the headstone and footstone. When the headstone is finished it will feature the image of a submarine breaking the water.

In a reverent silence, they began to work.

Mooney took the command star, got on his knees and put the pin in the dirt. Then he and Dan Ashley lifted the Navy marker and placed it on the concrete, flush with the ground. Both on their knees, they filled earth in around it, and carefully wiped dirt from it. Dan Ashley then put two American flags and his son's Navy flag in a stand. "When he went to boot camp," the sailor's father said, "he gave me that flag."

Then the Navy commander looked to his friend, the sailor's father.

"Let's pray," he said.

Under a deep blue sky, on a hillside in West Virginia, the only sound that could be heard was that of the two men whispering: "Our Father, who art in heaven . . . "

Grief and love for slain Marine

Published Aug. 10, 2005
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer

It was a simple three-word message for a fallen Tallmadge Marine:

``God bless you.''

The Internet posting by someone identified simply as Debbie from Akron symbolized the outpouring of love and support for Lance Cpl. Daniel Nathan Deyarmin and his family.

More than 800 paid their respects to the 22-year-old Marine Reservist at the funeral home on the first day of calling hours.

``On behalf of the over 27,000 members of the Ohio Sons of the American Legion, I offer my prayer of comfort to the family,'' wrote Roy Turner, a Tallmadge High School graduate from Duck, W.Va., and past commander of the Ohio Sons of the American Legion.

On the guest book at the Beacon Journal's Web site, www.ohio.com, dozens from the Akron area and from around the world memorialized Deyarmin, who died with five other Marine snipers on Aug. 1, 2005, in Iraq.

The Tallmadge High School graduate, who turned 22 two days before he was killed, was a member of Akron's Weapons Company, a Marine Reserve unit that left for Iraq with units from Columbus; Brook Park; Moundsville, W.Va.; and Buffalo, N.Y., in January.

Since the unit of about 1,000 Marines -- 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division -- left, 30 Marines have been killed in action, including six from the Akron unit, four from Brook Park, 16 from Columbus and four from Moundsville, W.Va., Marine officials said.

An additional 15 Marines from other parts of the country and other units who were attached to the 3/25 Reserve Battalion have also been killed since the deployment to Iraq, officials said.

Tiffanie Newman and her brother, Jimmy Newman, both longtime friends of the Deyarmin, were so moved by his death that they both got tattoos over the weekend in his honor.

``It is a way he will be able to live through me forever,'' said Tiffanie, 24.

She said she planned to attend calling hours both days as well as the funeral. ``He was a wonderful, loyal friend,'' she said.

One of the online tributes for Deyarmin came from Army Sgt. First Class Evelyn Hall, an Akron native serving in Kosovo, who wrote on the Web site, ``All military services here in Kosovo are feeling sorrow for your loss.''

A writer from Tallmadge wrote of being the same age as Deyarmin and of having a child.

``I think of what she will be when she grows up. . . maybe a nurse or a lawyer. I can only wait and see, but I know she will be free to choose because of you,'' said the writer, who didn't sign the note. ``You gave your life for my daughter. What else can I say? Thank you.''

Ron Gould of Tallmadge, wrote of being in shop class with Deyarmin,

``In the brief time I knew him, we found common ground in working with our hands and talking about trucks,'' he wrote.

``To his family, you have raised a wonderful person. Everyone would be better off if more people had someone like Nate in their life.''

Friends Amy and Delaina Fretz of Tallmadge wrote of how much they would miss him.

``It's never goodbye,'' they wrote. ``It's always I'll see you later.''

A man who identified himself as a father from Akron wrote a poem that finished this way: ``Godspeed to the Tallmadge hero and his comrades who've gone before. Rest in peace, dear Nate, for now and evermore.''

And there was this from Jenny Jarvis of Tallmadge, who thanked Deyarmin for talking to her when he was in Iraq. Deyarmin, she said, made her feel like she could be a Marine.

``And that's what I'm going to do,'' she wrote.