Farewell to PFC Stephen Benish

Jim Lowney Photo

Yesterday’s sad, raw weather was fitting. Burying a twenty-year-old on a sunny warm morning would have seemed out of place, although it has happened many times since Americans started dying in this latest war.

U.S. Army PFC Stephen Benish got his final sendoff yesterday in a freezing rain in his hometown of Clark, New Jersey. The event was heavy with ceremony and sadness.

Six strapping young soldiers, looking strong and sharp in their neat uniforms, carried his coffin from Johnson Walter J. Funeral Home before the wind and rain began. The air was cold and silent with only the lonely sound of passing car on Raritan Road. Benish’s family and friends watched the G.I.s lift the flag-draped box up to four firefighters in their dress blues standing in the bed of a Cranford Township fire engine decorated with black and purple bunting. Cranford is where Benish was a volunteer fireman.

Every other man and woman in uniform stood at attention offering a long, solid salute.

A middle-aged man in blue jeans who was smoking a cigarette next to a cop of some decent rank spotted me standing off in the background on the edge of the funeral home lot, just next to the gas station. I had my camera slung over my shoulder, not at the ready.

He shared a few words with the cop and walked towards me. He said the family didn’t want any pictures taken here, only in the street. He didn’t ask what paper I was from and there was no real emotion in his voice. It was all quiet and simple. I said no problem and began walking towards St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church just down Madison Hill Road.

It had been quite some time since I went to a stranger’s funeral with the purpose to photograph it. I felt a little awkward but also knew it was good to be there to pay respect to the kid and remember him.

Cop cars blocked off all traffic. A radio car and two cops on bikes started off, leading the funeral parade through the residential neighborhood to the church a short distance away. People looked out their front doors as the slow march went by their homes. The Union County Police and Fire Bagpipe Band marched ahead of the fire engine that carried Stephen Benish’s body. They walked in step, pipes at their sides, to the sad rattle of the drum.

In front of St. Agnes Church a cheery-picker rig from the Clark Fire Department had its arm of metal stretched up high. From its bucket hung the stars and stripes, waving slightly as light breeze came through. The funeral parade passed under it as cops and firefighters stood saluting as the coffin went by.

Down near the church entrance, in front of the grammar school, a few plastic saw horses had been set up. It was the press pit and sadly it was rather empty. I made my way over to join the other cameramen before Benish was brought into the church.

There was photographer Scott Lituchy from The Star-Ledger who I hadn’t seen in 10 years, another stills guy from the local weekly, a NBC cameraman from Channel 4 in New York and a cameraman from my brother Patrick’s outfit News 12 New Jersey. And there were a couple of reporters inside the church where we with cameras couldn’t go.

It wasn’t an impressive showing by the press at all. Only two TV stations in the entire New York metro area decided to cover this soldier’s funeral. There was no one from any wire service. And only two newspapers sent photographers. I offered my pictures to The New York Times but they didn’t run in today’s Metro section.

The family was more than prepared for dealing with the press. The area had been marked off. A lovely cousin named Tara acted as a liaison to the journalists there. She even had a press kit of sorts ready for us. It included a bio of Benish and a copy of his last letter to his grandmother. It was heart-breaking to read.

“And thank you for praying for me. I need it,” he wrote. “I will be coming home in just a month or two. I cannot wait! That is, like, all I think about. What a good time we will have and what a big hug and kiss I am going to give you. I have to run now. I am QRF 1 (Quick Reaction Force) tonight.”

Benish was killed by a sniper near Ramadi.

Are these deaths in Iraq becoming so common place that they don’t merit decent news coverage? Today marked the 1,000th American combat death in Iraq. The grand total of dead Americans is now 1,275. The number of wounded is coming up on 10,000. Don’t these men and women deserve more respect and attention?

Perhaps I am being unfair. Five-hundred people did pack the church to pray for Stephen Benish. Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey ordered all flags in the state to fly at half-staff in Benish's honor. Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) attended his funeral. But looking at the coffin, it just didn’t seem like much.

"Stephen did not die in vain, and he will not be forgotten" Monsignor James S. Choma said from the pulpit of the church in which Benish grew up. "He is one of our local modern-day heroes."

Star-Ledger reporter Joe Ryan had that quote in his story about the funeral. He also wrote how Benish been a Boy Scout and joined the Cranford Fire Department Explorers program when he was 12 and became a volunteer firefighter at 18. He enlisted in the Army after he graduated high school. His sister Kelly spoke fondly about her big brother Stephen. He just sounded liked a great kid.

The red fire engine stopped at the front door of the church. With the same care and ceremony as at the funeral home, the firefighters gently lowered Benish’s coffin to the Army pallbearers as the young soldier’s family watch, holding each other. The long box wrapped in a crisp American flag was once again passed from white gloves to white gloves. The pipers then struck up a sad tune as the family followed the coffin into the church for the funeral Mass.

Jim Lowney Photo

An hour later an icy rain had begun to fall. Then the sound of a lone piper playing Amazing Grace floated from the church. Small children from the grammar school looked out from their classroom windows and we readied our cameras.

Jim Lowney Photo

And once more Benish’s coffin was placed on top of the fire engine with great care. Men in dark suits from the funeral home held large black umbrellas over family members as they moved quickly to the cars. Soon a massive caravan of cars would follow the fire engine to the cemetery. There taps would be played and Stephen Benish’s parents would be presented with flags and he would be laid to rest.

His family asked the press to let them grieve in private at the cemetery. We did.

Rest in Peace, PFC Benish.

Jim Lowney Photo