Editorial: Flags and hearts at half-staff

Thursday, March 27, 2003 | 8:44 a.m.

Five days into the war on Saddam Hussein and his regime in Iraq, a U.S. Marine artillery lieutenant became Nevada's first casualty. A graduate of Tonopah High School, where he was a star basketball and football player, 2nd Lt. Frederick Pokorney Jr. was among a group of Marines killed Sunday near An Nasiriyah, 230 miles southeast of Baghdad. Reports from the front say Iraqi combatants signaled surrender, then opened fire, killing Pokorney and eight other Marines. We join with all Nevadans as Pokorney is remembered for the full life he lived in Tonopah and for the honorable way in which he served our country.

Pokorney was a field artillery officer with the 10th Marine Regiment, a unit that has distinguished itself in combat ever since forming in 1914. He was in the 1st Battalion, whose motto is "First in the World." Tonopah residents would agree on the appropriateness of the motto as it applies to Pokorney, who earned a college degree in military science before going on active duty with the Marines. As he interviewed residents this week, Sun reporter Jace Radke heard one story after the other attesting to Pokorney's good character and engaging personality. Former Nye County Sheriff Wade Lieseke and his family invited Pokorney to live with them after the teenager's mother and aunt died. Among Lieseke's memories is one that reveals the extent of the future Marine's pride. Long ago Lieseke had put away the medals he had earned in Vietnam as an Army helicopter gunn er. Pokorney arranged them in a case for display on a wall in the Lieseke home. "He was one of the finest people I've ever ! known," Lieseke said.

Pokorney leaves a wife and 2-year-old daughter, who live in a home outside Camp Lejeune, a Marine base in North Carolina. He also leaves a grateful country, state and hometown of Tonopah, where the flags are at half-staff and the residents are planning a memorial service for Friday morning in front of the high school.