Dead soldier's kin want sibling GI's home

[JoFerret]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3967262,00.html

NEW BERLIN, Wis. (AP) - The parents of a soldier killed in an ambush in Iraq are appealing to military leaders to allow her two surviving sisters to remain home after the funeral.

Pvt. Michelle Witmer, 20, who died Friday, became the first woman ever killed in combat in the Wisconsin National Guard, Gov. Jim Doyle said Sunday. Her two surviving sisters, including her twin, will accompany the body home, and the family asked Sunday that they not be required to return to Iraq.

``I can't live another year like I've lived this one,'' the women's father, John Witmer told The Associated Press. ``The sacrifice that this family's made can never be understood by someone who hasn't gone through it. ... It's a burden I can't bear. My family can't bear it.''
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