CEBU, Philippines – Traci Wise's husband died in Afghanistan on Jan. 15, 2012. Almost four months later, she caught her young son, Luke, sitting by a photo of his deceased dad. She posted a photo of the moment that quickly went viral.
"[I] found my son sitting having a moment with his daddy the other day. We lost him [on] January 15 in Afghanistan… We cannot forget about the incredible loss these children must undertake," Wise posted on Facebook. The photo has since been shared more than 11,000 times and has received hundreds of comments.
"I haven't lost my father… haven't lost my grandfather. I can't begin to imagine the pain that accompanies a loss like that. The only pain I feel is that this child, and many like him, will not get to have the experiences I did, and it hurts," someone posted.
The boy's father, Sgt. First Class Benjamin B. Wise, was 34 years old when he died from injuries sustained in Afghanistan. Wise, who belonged to a Special Forces group, was on his fourth deployment when he died.
"It's something I've wanted to do for a while now," Sgt. Wise told the Hope Star newspaper in 2004. "I was in college, and I took a break from college and thought I'd do it now while I was relatively young. I wanted to serve my country and do something that I found exciting."
In the interview, Sgt. Wise had described the difficulties of serving overseas. "There are a lot of frustrating things about being over there, about being with people from another culture and the special circumstances," he said. "But at the end of the day, it's a job, and we're specialists in the field. The troops are sent there to accomplish a mission."
Military service runs in Sgt. Wise's family. In 2009, his older brother, Jeremy, a former Navy SEAL, was killed while protecting a CIA outpost in Afghanistan. Sgt. Wise's younger brother, Matthew, served in the U.S. Marine Corps. (www.ibtimes.com)