War Widows

Recent war widows gathering in Austin, Tex., last month to share stories and see a documentary.

Helping War Widows on Road Ahead -- New York Times

When your husband dies at war, the things he carried show up in six black boxes.

Each pair of socks, each T-shirt, each love letter is inventoried on 20 sheets of paper. Everything has been washed, so when you breathe in the scent of a shirt, it doesn’t smell like him.

When a soldier dies, grief is followed by immersion in the somber routines and protocols of a military death.

These, at least, were the experiences that Taryn Davis — who became a 21-year-old widow on May 21, 2007, when her husband, Cpl. Michael W. Davis of the Army, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq — decided to preserve in a documentary titled “American Widow Project,” which she began filming several months after Michael’s death. (The 75-minute documentary will be available online from americanwidowproject.org next month; a preview of it can be seen on YouTube.)

Recalling the days after her husband died, Ms. Davis said: “I was basically on the Internet for 14 hours a day looking for resources. I wanted facts, and I wanted reality. I started looking and couldn’t find anything, and I realized that what I needed was another widow to come to my house.”

Instead she went to others’ houses.

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My Comment: This widow is a very thoughtful person. Unlike many in her situation who use their loss to advocate a position (i.e. Cindy Sheehan), she is trying her best to help those who are going through one of the most difficult moments in their lives. Kudos to her and her project.