Ambush At The River Of Secrets - UPDATE

This is a tough one. (Preview clip) I am praying that CNN does justice to these four Marine Heroes, three of them Virginians, and their families. Karl Linn's dad got this rolling. He works tirelessly for the families of Fallen Warriors any way he can.

"Ambush At The River Of Secrets" (1 hr.)
Anderson Cooper 360 show
CNN Network
January 3rd, 2007
10:00 p.m. EST

From The Martinsville Bulletin:

Bowling's unit subject of CNN show
Segment scheduled to air tonight

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin staff writer

A tribute to honor a local Marine and others killed while serving in Iraq will be broadcast at 10 tonight on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.

The program was initiated by CNN, according to Darrell Bowling, master trooper with the Virginia State Police and father of the late Cpl. Jonathan W. Bowling, 23, of Patrick County.

The special is titled “Ambush at the River of Secrets,” the nickname given to the Euphrates River by Marines, Darrell Bowling said. The program will honor Jonathan Bowling and the three other Marines killed Jan. 26, 2005, when their convoy was ambushed in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

In addition to Bowling, Lance Cpl. Karl R. Linn, 20, of Chesterfield, Cpl. Christopher L. Weaver, 24, of Fredericksburg, and Sgt. Jesse W. Strong, 24, of Irasburg, Vt., also died. All four were assigned to the Marine Corps Reserves 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, 4th Marine Division, headquartered in Lynchburg.

Darrell Bowling said he first learned of the project when contacted by CNN representatives who asked him to participate in the program, but the project was spawned after CNN requested interviews with family members of soldiers who lost their lives fighting in Iraq.

Response to that initial request was overwhelming, Bowling said he was told, and although he did not contact CNN, Linn’s father did.

“There was something about what he (Linn’s father) said that caught their attention” and the project started to take shape, Bowling said.

News crews spent time in Patrick County and Martinsville, as well as several other areas, as they conducted interviews for the tribute, he said.

The original showing of the hour-long special is slated to begin at 10 tonight, Bowling said, and the first half of the show “deals with the unit itself and where they were when activated” and other background information.

At the midway point of the special, the attack will be shown, and the remainder of the program concentrates on surviving family members, Bowling said.

“I would like to caution people that in order to tell the story, they have to show the attack” responsible for killing the four, Bowling said. “And there will be actual footage of the attack itself,” he added.

Bowling worked closely with those putting the story together, and while he admits watching that portion of footage was difficult.

“It’s just something you’ve got to do. If it gets Jon’s name out there, it’s worth it,” he said.

A Martinsville police officer, Jon Bowling also was the son of Robin Feron of Patrick County. Step-parents are Greg Feron and Rita Bowling, also of Patrick County.

The tribute also is slated to air on Jan. 26, the second anniversary of Jon Bowling’s death.

Original UCV post
Free Republic/Mr. Linn
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