Soldier's parents know all about the call to service

Larry and Carla Sizer's son died in action in Iraq in September, so it would be understandable if their eyes narrowed a bit while listening to Barack Obama's Wednesday speech calling Americans to public service.

When a family has made a sacrifice like that, any further request might be inappropriate.

Yet Larry, an unaffliated voter, sat quietly as Obama channeled John F. Kennedy, urging Americans to volunteer for public service on several levels. Larry nodded as Obama recalled that when in college, "I began to notice a world beyond myself."

After the speech, the Sizers waited in the gymnasium at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Carla had made an elaborate book of her son's life and asked Obama staffers if the candidate would sign it. Their son, Spc. Dane Balcon, 19, was killed Sept. 5 by a roadside bomb.

Instead of being put off by a pitch for public service, Larry sounded inspired.

"It's not about rich, white, black or poor. He's getting everyone involved."

The Sizers, who live in Falcon, both served in the military. They didn't encourage their son to enlist and they didn't discourage him either, they said.

Carla, a Democrat, said her son wasn't very political and didn't spend much time thinking about whether America should be fighting in Iraq.

"He didn't mind," she said tearfully. "He said, ‘Mom, I was born to do this.' "

Carla said she isn't so sure of what she was born for, but she was moved to service in the wake of his death.

She launched a Gold Star Moms chapter to help mothers grieving for children killed in action. "Memories of him are all I have now," she said.

The Sizers are black, but Larry said, "I'm not voting for him because he is black. I think he's the best man for the job."

They waited as campaign volunteers put away folding chairs and cleaned up after the partisan crowd left. Carla, wearing an Obama for President T-shirt, held a cell phone in her lap, looking at pictures of her son. She wept again.

About an hour later the scrapbook was back in her hands - signed by Barack Obama; signed by the man who said Tuesday that the conflict in Iraq is "a war that should have never been authorized and never been waged."

It's the signature Carla Sizer wanted as a fitting tribute to her son.

"It's very nice," she said.

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Contact Noreen at 636-0363 or noreen@gazette.com. He appears every other Friday on KOAA's Comcast Channel 9 at 4 p.m.

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