I don't think I've ever really posted a prayer request on here before, but one of my friends really needs prayer...My friend Anne here at school has lost two of her close friends to the war in Iraq in the last month, and she's really hurting...These deaths are not the first she's experienced within her circle of friends, so the pain is increasinly bad, since one death seems to keep coming after another...I've posted the article below...please, please, pray for her, she needs prayer....

Moose Lake mourns for another son
Chuck Haga, Star Tribune
April 8, 2004MOOSE0408



MOOSE LAKE, MINN. -- Moises (Moy) Langhorst kept in touch with the folks at home.

He and classmate Matthew Milczark had joined the Marines together after graduating from Moose Lake High School last year. They had talked about it since they were kids. Langhorst painted camouflage patterns on his car, and he often wore "cammy" pants to school.

When Milczark, 18, died in a non-combat shooting in Kuwait last month, Langhorst knew the news would shatter his little hometown. He called his father, George, who shared his message with Moose Lake Superintendent Tim Caroline.

"He said he was OK," Caroline said. "And he said he was still committed to the cause. He had lost his good buddy, but he was there to serve and to help the Iraqi people."

A month earlier, Langhorst had written a letter to members of his church, St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran. Dated Feb. 3, it was still posted on the church bulletin board Wednesday as his pastor, the Rev. Larry LaDassor, began planning 19-year-old Langhorst's funeral.
Moises Langhorst
Moose Lake High School
Associated Press

"Dear church family," the young Marine had written.

"It's great to know you all love and care about me back home. It's easy to forget in all the stress of my job here. . . .

"I don't feel the least bit nervous or concerned between my good training and my faith in God. I have nothing to worry about.

"Keep praying for 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, and I'll keep praying for good ol' Moose Lake, and, God willing, I'll see you all this fall."

For Minnesota, the news that Langhorst had been killed in action Monday in the Fallujah-Ramadi area of Iraq was a second jarring loss in as many days. A day before, Marine Cpl. Tyler R. Fey, 22, of Eden Prairie, was killed in fierce fighting in the same region, Iraq's Anbar province.

Counting Fey and Langhorst, six Minnesotans have died in Iraq.

At the Legislature in St. Paul, the House and Senate each paused Wednesday to honor Fey and Langhorst, "two heroes from Minnesota who lost their lives while serving their country."

But coming less than a month after Milczark's funeral, Langhorst's death was an especially stunning loss for Moose Lake, a town of 2,230 people about 40 miles southwest of Duluth.

"He was one of those young men who was liked and admired equally by his peers and by adults," said Caroline, the school superintendent.

"We understand that casualties are rising," he said. "But even so, it doesn't make any sense that we should lose two of our boys in a month.

"We've lost two of our stars, and it hurts."

Through LaDassor, George and Judy Langhorst declined to talk about the death of their son. They were in seclusion Wednesday with Moy's younger brother, Matt, and other relatives.

"They've asked for a couple days to be by themselves and pull things together," their minister said. "They're holding up well. They have a strong Christian faith that's giving them comfort."

Funeral arrangements won't be completed until the family learns when Langhorst's body will be returned to Moose Lake. An all-faiths community prayer vigil was held Wednesday night at Holy Angels Catholic Church, where Milczark's funeral was held March 13.

Flags were lowered to half-staff throughout Moose Lake as soon as the news began to spread early Wednesday. At the local newspaper office at the center of town, a large U.S. flag and a Marine flag were displayed in a front window, and people gathered in small clusters to lament this latest tragedy involving one of their young people.

"A lot of people mentioned Katie today," Caroline said.

Katie Poirier, 19, of nearby Barnum, was kidnapped from the Moose Lake convenience store where she was working alone on May 26, 1999. Donald Blom, a convicted sex offender, was convicted of kidnapping and killing her.

The school brought in grief counselors for the students, and Caroline told his teachers and other staff "to go ahead and cry, and let the students see you crying, and tell them it's OK to cry -- don't be afraid, don't be ashamed."

Substitute teachers were brought in, too.

"After going through Matt's death, we knew this was going to hit everyone hard," Caroline said. "This was going to be difficult for the staff, too -- a number of them have sons or daughters who are about to go into the military."

Jennifer Edin, a senior, her eyes red from crying, left school Wednesday clutching a teddy bear she took from a counselor.

"He was my brother's best friend," she said of Langhorst.

Some students put their feelings into messages drawn or inscribed on a banner that was posted in a school hall.

"Moy, we will love you forever," one girl wrote, signing "your little cousin Hannah."

"Hooah, Moy," another student wrote, giving the Marine cry.

Many saluted both Langhorst and Milczark as heroes, thanking them and promising never to forget them.

Roxe Peterson, 57, a school custodian, teared up as she read the messages.

"Matt was homecoming king here," she said. "We lost our homecoming king in Vietnam.

"It's like reliving the past."

Dave Waechter, 60, was Langhorst's math teacher and his coach for the Knowledge Bowl, an annual academic competition in which Langhorst starred.

"He was on the senior high team starting in the seventh grade," Waechter said, smiling through his tears. "He was an extremely bright young man."

With Langhorst, the school's team won five regional championships and two state titles.

"He was a terrific competitor, always with the kind of enthusiasm you want to see in a kid," Waechter said.

"He was always the optimist, always saw the bright side."

He played trumpet in the school band, played football and ran track, performed in school plays and did well in all his subjects.

"His favorite was military history," Waechter said.

"From the time he was a little kid, he talked about how he was going to be a Marine. It was just something he had to do. I tried to talk him into going to college; he had so much potential. He could have made a difference in a lot of lives.

"It's a tragic loss for the whole community, and that's how we're handling it -- as a community. We're sharing it. A lot of hugs. A lot of tears."