Cruel Toll Of War Hits HomeBayside And Flushing Soldiers Mourned

Two Queens soldiers lost their lives in the line of duty this past week.
The heroes were killed during a scouting mission in a highly unstable region of Iraq near the highway that connects the airport and the “Green Zone,” an area heavily occupied by United States personnel.
While patrolling the territory on a humvee, a homemade, roadside bomb exploded killing Wai Lwin of Douglaston and Azhar Ali of Flushing, both 27, and seriously injuring a third soldier, Sgt. Daniel P. Maiella, 30, of Brooklyn.
The fallen soldiers shared several common ties and grew to be good friends while serving in the same battalion.
Both were born in different countries and immigrated to the U.S. Both men were Specialists in the Army National Guard Unit, the First Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment of Manhattan, known as the “Fighting 69th” and commanded by Lt. Col. Geoffrey J. Slack. Both were part of a group of 600 National Guardsmen sent to Baghdad back in October and both frequently participated in dangerous recognizance missions to patrol different areas of Iraq similar to the one that claimed their lives last Wednesday night.
These deaths make eight fatalities suffered by the 69th Battalion during this war.
Lwin was born in Rangoon in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and came to the U.S. in 1991 with his family. He went to high school at Benjamin Cardozo in Oakland Gardens. He became a U.S. citizen just six short months ago after joining the National Guard in 2003. He was recently denied the opportunity for a two-week leave after the death of his grandfather. His family held a small Buddhist ceremony on the day of his death and also held a traditional Buddhist ritual, known as the seventh-day ceremony, on Tuesday.
Lwin’s parents are also planning on donating a small pagoda to a Burmese monastery in New Jersey in remembrance of their son.
Ali, a Muslim, was born in Pakistan and was a graduate of John Bowne High School in Flushing. He joined the army in 1998 after high school, fulfilling his lifelong dream to become a soldier. He took an extended tour of South Korea and was stationed for a year at Ground Zero. He had aspirations of becoming a New York City policeman.
Ali’s family originally sought to bury Ali during a traditional Muslim ceremony in his homeland of Pakistan but because of military complications regarding notifying his family and transporting the body to Karachi, he wasn’t buried within the 24-hour period customary to the Muslim faith. Ali’s parents, who moved back to Pakistan, are suffering harassment in their homeland by anti-American supporters and seek to properly lay their son to rest.
Local political leaders including Councilmember John Liu and Senator Hillary Clinton, are supporting the Ali family’s efforts and helping to secure visas for the family members who will be traveling from Pakistan to the U.S. for the burial.
“The Ali family has suffered the loss of their beloved son and brother. They have suffered callousness from the U.S. government. And they suffer harassment in Pakistan,” commented Liu. “Our government needs to act quickly and fully to help the family of this American hero through this difficult time.”
melissa@queenscourier.com