From the Richmond Times Dispatch....12/26/07

Military brotherhood: Honor spans 2 wars
Twin guardsmen in Iraq win praise for video telling story of decorated Indian Marine

Wednesday, Dec 26, 2007 - 12:08 AM
By PETER BACQUE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Twin brothers serving in Iraq with the Virginia Army National Guard have been honored for a video they produced between convoy security missions in the combat zone.

Spcs. Eli and Seth Lovell were recognized this month for their video portrayal of Pfc. Ira Hayes, an American Indian who was one of the Marines immortalized in the photo of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima during World War II.

The 22-year-old guardsmen from Fishersville in Augusta County earned second place in the annual American Indian Heritage Month contest for their 10-minute program.

The Lovells focused on Hayes, a Pima Indian, to show the legacy of American Indians in the U.S. armed forces.

"It's overwhelming how much they contributed," said Eli Lovell, speaking from Al Asad Air Base in Iraq's Anbar province. "Our military would not be what it is today without the diversity that helps define it.

"It . . . forced us to think about the whole issue on diversity in the military," Eli said.

Hayes was the only American Indian in the six-man group of Marines in Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1945 picture, widely regarded as the most memorable photo of World War II.

With Johnny Cash's version of "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" playing in the background, the Lovells' video tells the story of the highly decorated Marine's life, from his battles with Japanese in the Pacific to his well-documented -- and ultimately losing -- fight with alcoholism.

Hayes died in 1955 at age 32. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

According to the Defense Department, American Indians have historically had the highest proportion of military service of any U.S. ethnic group: 10 percent have served in the armed forces, triple the rate of any other ethnic group.

Eli is a combat medic and recent graduate of Bridgewater College. Seth is a gunner on the unit's armored security vehicles and a student at James Madison University. He also deployed with the Guard to Afghanistan. Both are married.

The Lovells are members of the Virginia Guard's B Company, 3rd Battalion of the 116th Infantry, from Woodstock and Warrenton. The unit is due to return home this summer.

A program of the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, the heritage contest was sponsored in Iraq by the Lovells' parent unit, the 507th Airborne Corps Support Group.

"The observance was conducted to enhance cross-cultural awareness among soldiers and civilian employees," said Sgt. 1st Class Michael James, an equal-opportunity representative in the Lovells' battalion.

Al Asad is a major convoy hub and, with thousands of troops and civilians, the largest U.S. military base in western Iraq.

Soldiers at the huge base, about 100 miles west of Baghdad, have phone and Internet access. "We joke all the time, 'It's not your daddy's war,'" said Seth Lovell, "and that's for sure."

Still, said 2nd Lt. David Leiva, the Lovells' platoon leader, "every time you roll out that gate, anything and everything can happen."

Because they are brothers, the unit tries to keep them widely separated during convoy missions. "We don't want to roll the dice more times than we have to," said Leiva, who comes from Washington.

But when not "outside the wire" in their heavily armored vehicles, "we actually find ourselves with a lot of down time," Eli said.

"One of our biggest enemies over here is boredom," he said, so the brothers welcomed the video project.

"It was kind of funny to be working on homework in a 'quote, unquote' combat zone," Eli said.

"You know," he said, "I find a lot of things weird to be doing in a combat zone."
Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or pbacque@timesdispatch.com.