The Mother's Day Project


Honoring fallen servicewomen

When Blue Gal directed everyone to Threadingwater's Mother's Day Project , I said to count me in. A tiny bit of my time, the use of a skill I've had for more than thirty-five years, and some woman who gave her life in service to our country is honored. I was a little slow getting it started with the end-of-school craziness around here, but my tiny piece of the work is finished and on its way back to be included in the final assembly. Eighty servicewomen's names hand-stitched by eighty caring others, and combined into a tribute that we all can share in.

Whether you feel that they've given their lives in a war that should not have happened, or whether you believe with the current administration that this war is a good thing, is not the point for me. The point is that almost all our service people who come back dying or dead get little enough recognition from our country as a whole. Some, like Pat Tillman and LaVena Johnson, have their true stories covered up by an Army that does not want the world to know that things can go terribly, terribly wrong; that living and fighting in a war zone can make even the "good guys" do both stupid and evil things. Read about LeVena and the struggle her family is facing here.

But, back to the Mother's Day Project and my tiny slice of it, or rather Tamarra J. Ramos' slice. I worked her name in a bright turquoise simply because I love that color.

Army Spc. Tamarra J. Ramos



24, of Quakertown, Pa.; assigned to the 3rd Armor Medical Company, Medical Troop Regimental Support Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo.; died of non-combat related injuries Oct. 1 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. Spc. Tamarra J. Ramos was serving in Egypt in support of U.S. efforts in Iraq when she was diagnosed with cancer. In a statement released by her unit, Ramos' fellow soldiers said she had "touched many lives, especially in the regiment with her drive and dedication." She served in the same unit as her husband, Eric, a medical specialist.

A 1997 graduate of Quakertown High School, born in Doylestown, she was a daughter of David W. and Mary (Naydyhor) Johnson of Quakertown. She was a member of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Applebachsville. Survivors: Husband; parents; brother, David W. II of Coopersburg; sisters, Melanie and Dia Smith, both of Allentown, Miramani of Quakertown, Kamaria of Coopersburg; maternal grandmother, Mildred Naydyhor of Quakertown; nieces, nephews.

Contributions: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

You can read messages to Tamarra at the Fallen Heros Memorial. Especially meaningful for me is the note from the widow of someone that served with Eric Ramos, who asked Tamarra to keep an eye on her late husband.

The 2007 Memorial Day issue of Philadelphia's CityPaper.Net gives a map showing all the fallen service people by hometown of record, and a list by name of those from the greater Philly area. The Washington Post website has an area called Faces of the Fallen that keeps photos of all of them. That's 3,858 Americans that have died while serving in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as of this 63rd anniversary of D-Day.

Posted: Wed - June 6, 2007 at 03:12 PM   Home         | | View Technorati reactions

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