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Proud family of warriors mourns and lays a son to rest
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Published: November 8, 2009
As a boy, Seth Mitchell couldn't get enough of the stories his grandfather, Joseph D. Mitchell of Forsyth County, would tell him about serving on the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga during World War II.
Seth Mitchell grew up to be a Marine, one who made his grandfather proud by working his way up from the infantry to a pilot's seat in an AH-1 Super Cobra helicopter in Afghanistan. Capt. Seth Mitchell, 30, was among four U.S. military personnel killed there Oct. 26 when his copter collided with another one.
The next day, his parents, Steve and Connie Mitchell, traveled to Dover Air Force Base to pray as his coffin arrived from Afghanistan -- the night before President Obama went to Dover to honor 18 other Americans who'd been killed in Afghanistan.
Capt. Mitchell didn't speculate about the decision Obama must soon make on whether to increase troop numbers in Afghanistan, his father said. Like so many fighters before him, including those in his family, he concentrated on doing his job.
His great-grandfather, Ed Mitchell, was a soldier in World War I. An uncle on his father's side, Larry Mitchell of Pinnacle, fought in Vietnam. Two uncles on his mother's side, Steve Stewart and Jerry Stewart of Winston-Salem, were in the Marine Reserve. A great uncle, Clyde Stewart, was a tail gunner on a B-17 that was shot down in World War II. His grandfather on his mother's side, C.A. Stewart Jr., served in the Army during that war. And Capt. Mitchell's first cousin is Navy First Class Petty Officer Chad Mitchell.
But nothing can prepare a family for Marine officers ringing their doorbell at 2:40 a.m., as happened at Steve Mitchell's house last month. He believed his oldest son would make it home safely. "We'd always felt like he'd come back home," he said.
What brings comfort is the fact that his son had honored the family's long line of warriors. "In my mind, Seth will always be a hero," said one of his uncles, Chris Mitchell of Winston-Salem.
Capt. Mitchell grew up mainly in Ohio, before Steve and Connie Mitchell had moved to Cary with Seth and his brother, Drew. On visits here, Seth Mitchell and his cousin Chad would hang out at their grandfather's house, listening to his stories about the Ticonderoga.
Seth Mitchell always wanted to fly, but his vision wasn't good enough. So after graduating from Virginia Tech in 2001, he served tours in Okinawa, Haiti and Iraq as an officer in an infantry unit.
Steve Mitchell said he was nervous as he and other family members saw Seth off to Iraq, but his son was calm. "He just very matter-of-factly said, ‘Don't make a scene here.' "
Capt. Mitchell didn't give up on his dream of becoming a pilot. He had surgery on his eyes and earned a private pilot's license. Marshalling determination and diligence, he beat long odds and won a Marine Corps Aviation training spot.
He returned to Iraq for a second tour last year. But that time, he saw it from the air. Thundering over the desert, he must have felt like he was living out his dream.
He volunteered to report to Afghanistan early to help a unit short on manpower. He and a co-pilot provided cover for ground troops and Medivac units. "I don't think he talked to any of us about the dangerous situations he had been in," Steve Mitchell said.
Joseph Mitchell's health has been failing -- but not his pride in Seth and Chad Mitchell. The news of Seth's death devastated him.
It's like a bad dream, said Chad Mitchell's mother, Rhonda.
Friday, Capt. Seth Mitchell's family gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to bid him farewell.
"The peace comes from knowing my son was doing what he wanted to do and what he loved to do," his father said.
jrailey@wsjournal.com.
727-7357
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