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IRAQ--Scott Sweeney and his fellow Navy Seabees
worked around the clock for days, building a 300-foot bridge over the
Saddam Canal recently.
The
Army and Marines needed a bridge at that particular point - it provided
the safest route for an assault on Baghdad - and the canal had no bridge
for 50 miles in either direction.
While
the men worked, a group of Iraqis gathered on the far side of the canal,
watching their progress. Petty Officer 2nd Class Sweeney, a
Marblehead native and crew chief, and the other Seabees eyed the group
warily, but continued working.
When
the bridge was finished, the Iraqi men started running over it. The
Seabees braced themselves for a fight - but instead were hugged and kissed
mightily.
"Thank you, thank you," the Iraqis cried. The region and its
residents are poor, and for years, people had not been able to cross the
canal to reach markets or schools.
"My
daughter will go to school now," one man wept gratefully.
Scott
described the scene to his wife, Tammy Sweeney, who lives in California
near Scott's base. She, in turn, recently relayed it to Scott's
parents, Marcia and Phillip Sweeney of Marblehead.
"They're not just over there ruining their country, bombing things,"
Marcia Sweeney said. "They're building things, too."
The
bridge, a mostly prefabricated steel structure, will last 25 years - long
enough for another generation of Iraqi children to go to school. |