Witmer Soldiers Remember Fallen Sister

Sept. 8, 2004 -- Minutes before Michelle Witmer went out on what was to be her last mission, she sent an e-mail to her twin sister, Charity. Michelle was not thinking about herself. Instead she was worried about Charity and another sister, Rachel, who were both serving with her in Iraq.

"I'm really worried about Rachel," Michelle wrote. "She's in a bad part of town. And I hope you'll be okay. I just want you to know I love you forever."

The day before, Michelle had seemed unconcerned about her safety. She told Rachel she was sure everything would be OK. "She says, 'I don't know what it is but I'm just, I'm OK, I'm at peace with everything,'" Rachel remembers. "She said those words, 'I'm at peace with everything. … I know that God has a plan for me. I know that he will take care of me. And I am OK."

‘Like She Knew’

The night of April 9 Michelle's squad was called in to help protect an Iraqi police station that was being overrun. Michelle, usually a driver, was ordered to man the vehicle's gun.

Rachel Witmer recalls seeing her sister shortly before they both left for their missions that day. "When we left that day we lined up in vehicle convoys, and she was going to one part of the city and I was going to another."

Rachel noticed her sister was not in the driver's seat, "so I kind of smiled at her. And she smiled back at me. And I remember — and to this day I will kick myself for the rest of my life — having this urge to just run over and hug her, tell her I love you, be safe. And I didn't."

There was something different in Michelle's face, Rachel says. "It was more stoic than usual and she just — I don't know if people know what's going to happen to them, but she just — she had this calm, stoic look on her face." Then Michelle waved goodbye, and it was the last time Rachel saw her.

Looking back, Charity also noticed something different about her twin sister. "She just was so — at peace with herself, and with life. And [in] retrospect it's just incredible to me. It was like she knew."

Michelle Witmer and her unit headed into an enemy ambush, where she was killed.