Bomb Techs Gather for Memorial; Most Dead Since WWII

Every year, explosive ordnance disposal technicians from around the country gather at their schoolhouse in the Florida panhandle to talk shop, get drunk, and honor their fallen dead.

Watching widows receive their folded flags at last year's EOD Memorial Ceremony has to be one of the most memorable, most heartbreaking things I've ever seen.

This year, there were more flags handed out than at any time in the memorial's 38-year history. 15 bomb quad techs died in 2006 -- the most since World War II. It's a massive number for an EOD community numbering in the few thousands. The Associated Press has a report from the ceremony, and a look at some of the technicians who lost their lives.

When Tim Weiner volunteered to become an EOD technician in 1991 he told his family that it was one of the safest jobs in the military - how often did a stray bomb need disarming?

"That was before Iraq and the IEDs," his sister, Karyn Plante, said. Tim was the only member of Team Lima who had been in Iraq before...

Weiner was married to his high school sweetheart, Deborah, and they have a 15-year-old son. He told his family about the Iraqi children.

"Something happened to Tim last fall. They had evacuated a large area in a village and decided to blow up a device. A little girl was hiding and her face was damaged. Tim was devastated by that," Plante said.

She created a fund in his name at University Hospital in Syracuse New York where she works. The fund helps infants and children with head and facial deformities.

The EOD memorial also has a scholarship fund, to help put family members of current, retired, and deceased bomb techs through college. Consider giving.