Mudville Gazette

Media Ignorance:

The Mudville Gazette links to a terrible story from The Grand Junction Sentinel:

The 31-year-old soldier who liked to tinker with cars and recently moved to Grand Junction left behind his family to serve in Iraq. It wouldn't be a quick fix, but the man who loved to fix things died trying.

On Saturday, he stepped in front of a young Iraqi girl, one of many children caught in a crossfire in Baqouba, Iraq. A bullet struck his heart, killing him instantly. He was less than two months into his deployment.

Kenney, a posthumous recipient of the Purple Heart, will be buried Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa.
He and his wife, Amber, recently purchased a home in the Grand Valley. The couple met at Metro Church of Denver and would have celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day.

Their last communication, according to family spokesperson and Homefront Heroes president Phyllis Derby, was a voice message Amber left for her husband: "And if this is you, Jonathan, I love you." ...

He served with the 1-44 Air Defense Artillery Battalion, the same unit his wife would have served with. She was finishing up her training at Fort Bliss, Texas, when she learned of her husband's death. As sole surviving parent of Joshua, she was honorably discharged, Derby said.

This story is a complete fraud, one that was used to collect donations from the community. There are two details in the quoted passage that should have raised questions for any journalist who knew anything about the military; but almost none of them do.

Can you spot them? Check your answers against Greyhawk's.