The light of fallen friends
Mashpee mourns three lost to war
MASHPEE - About 600 people turned out at Mashpee's Community Park last night for a candlelight vigil honoring the town's three fallen members of the military.
Holding white candles shielded by clear plastic cups, the mourners listened to town administrators, local politicians, and close family friends offer words of condolence to the families of Marine Daniel A. C. McGuire, and soldiers Paul E. Conlon and Alicia Birchett.
The families listened to the emotional expressions as they sat in white folding chairs in front of a makeshift podium.
The scene included Boy Scouts, veterans groups, active-duty military in uniform, as well as many residents sporting Army T-shirts and Marine buzz cuts.
William Baron, Conlon's uncle, said of the turnout, "It is just overwhelming."
Baron, 38, turned and gazed out at the crowd of mourners ringing a flag at half-staff in the center of the park.
"It was supposed to be a gathering of family and then it turned into this. And we are so thankful for everyone who showed up."
Baron said Senator Edward M. Kennedy had visited his home early yesterday and spoke privately with Paul's mother, Maria, for about 15 minutes.
McGuire was a clean-cut church volunteer who loved acting in school musicals and dreamed of becoming a kindergarten teacher.
Conlon was a strong-willed artist who played classical piano, wrote poetry, wore spike-studded belts, and had his hair cut in a Mohawk.
Birchett, 29, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, was an Army staff sergeant who was killed on Aug. 9, 2007, after she was pinned by a truck while changing its tire in Baghdad.
A dedicated mother of three boys, she died following her life's calling, mourners said.
McGuire and Conlon, who died on consecutive days last week, joined the military fresh out of Mashpee High, two years apart.
Both shipped overseas, McGuire to Iraq, Conlon to Afghanistan. Their deaths plunged Mashpee, a close-knit Cape Cod community of 14,000, into mourning. The deaths also brought to light qualities the men shared, values that their friends recalled yesterday as they consoled each other with hugs, phone calls, and photos and stories swapped over the Internet.
"Paul and Dan were pretty much one and the same," said Kari Brissell, 18, who said she dated McGuire for nearly two years in high school and kept in touch with him via e-mail when he was serving in Iraq. "They were both really strong about the military. They both did sports. They both made people laugh, and they were the people you wanted to be around. Everyone wanted to be around either one of them because they were lighthearted, fun people."
Yesterday, Mashpee High School opened its doors to grieving students and planned the candlelight vigil in the town's Veterans Garden, a simple memorial with an American flag planted in the middle of a pathway of bricks engraved with the names of service members killed in action.
"A lot of my friends are saying it's unfair," Brissell said. "It isn't fair to lose two great people like that in the same week."
McGuire, 19, a private first class in the Marines, died Thursday when his patrol outside Fallujah came under small-arms fire, according to Sydney Chase, Mashpee's veterans agent. Conlon, 21, an Army private first class, died Friday when his Humvee struck a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, his family said.
Two counselors at the high school said yesterday that they knew both men well, having served as their advisers.
"There's just a sense of disbelief among people here, that two men who were so young and full of life and from the same community could die in such a way," said Pat Farrell, Conlon's counselor.
"Both men were very unique, and well liked," said McGuire's counselor, Janet Kraskouskas, sitting in the school's library. Both said they tried to persuade the men to attend college, but Conlon, who graduated in 2005, and McGuire, who graduated in 2007, were determined to join the military.
"I was trying to get him to think differently, I didn't want to send a young man off to the war, someone who hasn't lived life," Kraskouskas said. "He knew the risks, but he was living his dream by being in the service."
Friends said McGuire felt a sense of duty.
"As far as back as I can remember he was talking about joining the Marines," said Val McGinnis, a friend from Mashpee High. "I don't think it was something he would ever regret. He loved this country."
Fallon Greer, 15, met McGuire last year, when she worked on the stage crew for a high school production of "Annie" and McGuire played the role of Franklin D. Roosevelt. "He told me he saw me as a younger sister, and I looked up to him," she said.
This year, when McGuire was in Iraq, the two stayed in touch, exchanging e-mails and the occasional phone call.
"I always asked him how the situation was over there, and was it dangerous, and he said things were fine and the locals were pretty nice," Greer said. "He said not to worry about him. Of course, I did anyway."
The last time she spoke with McGuire was about a week ago, when he called from Fallujah, she said.
"He told me they were going to start moving around a little bit, and he wasn't sure the next time he could call," she said. "And he just said, 'Don't worry about me. I'm going to be fine. And I'll give you a call as soon as I can.' "
Yesterday, Conlon's friends filled a Facebook page with tributes, his poetry, and photos of him at his most carefree: lounging on a couch with friends, tossing a rock into the ocean at dusk, and dancing with reckless abandon, his T-shirt soaked in sweat and arms thrust out.
"I just can't believe horrible things can happen to such an amazing person," one friend wrote. "I'll always remember, you as the goofball in class who made everyone laugh."
Brissell said that after weeping for days, she has tried to joke with friends that "God needed a bodyguard or two."
"I know that Dan would want us to be happy for him," she said. "He died doing exactly what he wanted to do. I know he's watching over us; he's watching over Mashpee. Paul is probably watching over Mashpee, too. People are just trying to remember them and remember they're in a better place."
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. 