After losing one daughter in Iraq this Friday, a Wisconsin family is appealing to the Pentagon to refrain from sending their two other daughters back to war after the funeral.
Michelle Witmer, a 20-year-old from New Berlin, Wis., was killed in action Friday in Iraq. She is the first woman in the Wisconsin National Guard’s history to be killed and the first member of the state’s National Guard to be killed since World War II.
Witmer only planned to serve five more days of patrol duty in Iraq when she was killed, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The family’s website posted the unfortunate news in a statement reading, “We regret to inform you that Michelle Witmer was killed in action on April 9. We covet your prayers.”
Listed underneath the statement is a past feature of the site created by the family, counting down the days until their daughter’s return.
Witmer’s 24-year-old sister, Rachel Witmer, served with her sister in the same unit. Michelle’s twin, Charity, served as a medic in the Wisconsin Guard’s 118th Medical Battalion.
Both sisters will return home with Witmer’s body for funeral services Wednesday.
The Witmer family is now asking National Guard officials, as well as U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., to work on the family’s behalf to keep their other two daughters on American soil rather than returning them to duty in Iraq.
“We trust that those in charge of making such a decision will realize that we have already sacrificed enough and that our family must not be asked to bear such an impossible burden,” a statement from the Witmer family reads.
Soon after learning their daughter had died, the Witmer family was also notified the 32nd Military Police Company’s stay in Iraq would be extended 120 days, meaning their daughter Rachel would unexpectedly have to return to Iraq for the entire summer.
Michelle Witmer was also serving in the Wisconsin National Guard’s 32nd Company, the 157-member brigade based out of Madison, when she was killed. She is the 16th Wisconsin resident killed since the war’s beginning in March 2003.
Attempting to update her family on her life in Iraq, Michelle Witmer often sent notes home to assure loved ones she was safe and tell them of her experiences in the war-torn country. In one note posted on the family website, Witmer alerted her family that her sister Rachel and she had not been harmed after heavy bombing in October.
“I just wanted to let you know that Rachel and I are okay. It’s been a crazy day and we were all pretty shook up with the bombings and the rockets, a few people from my Platoon were hurt but nothing was life threatening. Please keep us in your prayers; this month is really going to be keeping us on our toes. I love you all. Please keep posting and sending mail, it’s what gets us through this. I miss you all more than you can imagine. Love, Michelle.”
