Re: Mising, then Found, in Iraq

Date: January 07, 2004

"Asheville, NC   

Marion couple's soldier son missing, then found in Iraq
By Jennifer Brevorka, STAFF WRITER

MARION - Sue Dhermy's nightmare began after an early morning phone call woke her Tuesday.

An official with the Army was on the phone, telling her that her son, Spc. Michael Dhermy, 21, was missing in action in Iraq, Sue Dhermy said.

For more than 30 hours during Tuesday and Wednesday, Sue and John Dhermy lived in a fog of fear and despair, worrying about their son, who with two other soldiers from the 51st Signal Battalion, Bravo Company, were missing. The soldiers were based in Babylon.

"I couldn't sleep at all," Sue Dhermy said Wednesday. "I've been to hell and back."

The couple's turmoil ended Wednesday afternoon when the Dhermys learned from a Fort Bragg official that their son was found, John Dhermy said. "It was an emotional rollercoaster," he said of the past two days, speaking moments after his son phoned home from Iraq.

Sue Dhermy said that during a brief phone call Tuesday, an army official said her son had not returned from a mission on time and that his damaged Humvee had been found.

The couple spent the next two days phoning officials in Washington, D.C., and Fort Bragg in Fayetteville. A phone call to U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, helped the couple learn their son was safe.

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"The army tells you to call all these 800 numbers to check on a soldier's status," Sue Dhermy said. "I'm here to tell you that with the 800 numbers, nobody answers the phone. It was our persistence and when Taylor's office started asking questions."

Deborah Potter, a spokeswoman for Taylor, confirmed that the congressman's office had contacted officials at Fort Bragg.

The Army always sends a chaplain and an official to inform families of a soldier's death, but it's not unusual to learn that a soldier is missing in action by phone, said Spc. Robert Jordan, a spokesman with the N.C. National Guard.

In a phone call home Wednesday, Michael Dhermy confirmed details his parents had heard from army officials, John Dhermy said. "He didn't confirm or deny that he had been one of the soldiers captured," Sue Dhermy said. "He just said he was OK."

Parents of soldiers serving in Iraq live with stress every day, said Carol Douglas, whose son Tad Douglas served with the Marines in Iraq. "When Tad was over there, I watched the news constantly, worried that I would miss something," Carol Douglas said. "Every day that we didn't hear anything, we knew that it was OK."

Staff writer Tammy Jones contributed to this report.

Contact Brevorka at 232-2938 or JBrevork@CITIZEN-TIMES.com

© 2004 Asheville Citizen-Times"