Small Pa. town that answered the call, now grieves

NEW MILFORD, Pa. - After terrorists struck the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, residents here in the Endless Mountains of northeast Pennsylvania answered the call to service.

In this small town where blueberries grow abundantly - and townfolks gather them for pies - Master Sgt. James Ditchey, the Pennsylvania National Guard recruiter, signed on more new enlistees in October 2001 than any other recruiter in the state.

Among those who joined in the early months after 9/11 was Christopher Six, who enlisted with two of his high school buddies at age 17. "We wanted to help our country out the best we could," he says. "We thought in the Guard, we could still go to college."

That seems like a long time ago.

Five years later, the two friends who joined the New Milford-based Guard unit with him are dead. So is Staff Sgt. Daniel Arnold, 27, who re-enlisted, in part, because of 9/11. In one roadside bombing, five soldiers assigned to the unit died in Iraq.

That's a heavy toll for a town of 845 souls, a town so small it doesn't even warrant a fast-food restaurant.

Some communities mourned their loss of life on Sept. 11, then moved on. This one - just two hours from New York City, and where everyone knows somebody in the military - is still grieving.

By the time the unit had returned from Iraq in June, seven soldiers assigned to it had been killed.

"I try not to think about it at all," says Spc. Six, now a combat veteran, pausing from smoking a cigarette. "It was like a bad dream or something."

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