luke+n+current+affair

=HERALD SUN JUNE 18TH 2009=

=HONOURING A LOST SON AND FALLEN DIGGERS BY JOHN HAMILTON. "TO me he will always be a hero. He went up there knowing he was doing the right thing. =  "War wasn't the issue. Benny was there to help the people. That's what people should remember." Jennifer Ward sits in the living room of her Narre Warren home sipping her tea as a cold wind blows and the hail lashes down on her courtyard.  There are good days and bad days, she says.  This is a bad day.  Far from here, in the tiny town of Gayndah, southwest of Bundaberg, they are burying combat engineer Sapper Jacob "Snowy" Moerland.

Send your message of support to Australian troops serving overseas. Add your comment below. He was killed together with Sapper Darren Smith and his explosives sniffer dog Herbie when a roadside bomb exploded last week. Start of sidebar. [|Skip to end of sidebar.]

End of sidebar. [|Return to start of sidebar.] They were the 12th and 13th Australian soldiers to be killed in Afghanistan. Jennifer Ward's son Benny - she calls him "BJ" - was the 11th. Private Benjamin Ranaudo - aged 22 - was killed on July 18 last year when he stepped on a bomb. Another soldier with him was badly wounded. Today, there is an empty stool by the bar in the corner of the living room at Narre Warren. Benny and his mates would drink here when he was home on leave. A blue T-shirt is draped over the stool with the wording "Reconnaissance Platoon 1 RAR." His Digger's slouch hat is perched on a beer stein. There are medals in a frame. And everywhere there are pictures of a handsome kid with a big smile and curly hair. A silent slide show in the lounge room shows ever-changing scenes from the life of the little boy who went to St Joseph's school in Ferntree Gully and excelled at footy. He was a little boy who grew up and wanted to be either a soldier or a policeman, and whose favourite song was Somewhere Over The Rainbow. The army won. Pte Benjamin James Ranaudo, No. 8515121, joined up straight from school and was soon posted to East Timor. Another framed picture is near the bar - Pte Benjamin in combat uniform giving a high five to a little Timorese girl aged maybe five. Then came his next posting to Afghanistan. "I believe we should be in Afghanistan," says his mother, firmly. "We have to help them so that their kids can have an education. Because if we don't help them - who will? "It's a big price to pay but we have to step up to the line and do something ... we just don't know how lucky we are in this country, how lucky we are to be able to say what we want and do what we like because of soldiers like Benny."  Her eyes stray to the chilling caption under the photo with the mounted medals:  "Killed in action whilst serving with the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force-2 during Operation Slipper in the Baluchi Valley, Afghanistan."  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd rang soon after Benny died and so did the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce.  The PM attended the funeral at Springvale on August 31 and read the lesson from St John - "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends."  Everyone has tried to help.  "The army has been a magnificent support ever since," says Jennifer, "and so have BJ's mates and family and friends. For his soldier mates - it's like they've lost a brother.

''When the latest terrible event happened in Afghanistan, there were 38 messages on my answer phone asking if I was OK when I got home from visiting Townsville." Benny was based in Townsville. His girlfriend, Haylee McCarthy, lives there but his death has so affected her, she has deferred a year's study at university.  Jennifer had two children by first husband Angelo - Benny and Aimee.  Now her family is made up of husband Terry, his three children Melissa, Phillip and Terry Jr, and their own daughter Haylee, aged 10.  Terry and Jennifer run Scenic Caravans on the Frankston-Dandenong Rd.  The Army organised for the family to go to Canberra last Remembrance Day when Benny's name was added to the lists of the fallen at the Australian War Memorial.  The Army flew the family to Townsville this year where Benny was again remembered at the dawn service on Anzac Day.  And on the anniversary of his death, July 18, his mates are kicking in to fly Jennifer back to Townsville to be with them so she is not alone with her grief. "Some times are harder to bear than others, some dates make it raw," says Jennifer. "I asked Benny 'when are you coming home?' - just before he died last year - and he said 'think of your birthday'. My birthday was on February 10. "The rest of the boys came home alive on February 14."

Jennifer Ward was Benjamins mother. He was a soilder who was sent to Afaganistan with the Army. He was 22 years old when he died. That was in July 2009. He went to school in Fern Tree Gully. He was sent by the Army but always wanted to help people. When he was little he wanted to be either a soilder or a police officer so he could help people. He went with the support of his family. The Australilan Army has entered his name on the honour roll at the War Memorial in Canberra, and given his family lots of support. __** Questions **__ __** 1. **__ Do you think Australia should be involved in this war? Why or Why not? What happens if people ignore other people or countries that be cruel to others?
 * Summary﻿ **
 * __ 2. __** If you where in the army, and where being sent to Afganistan, would you go or want to go? Would you be afraid?
 * __ 3. __** On a scale of 1-10, how corougaous do you think it is to go to war?