Marine’s father gives Bush pen, support

It was just a regular, black-inked ballpoint pen that President Bush used to sign his veto yesterday, instead of his usual personalized Cross pen.

The pen was a gift from the father of a U.S. Marine killed in Iraq, who asked Mr. Bush last month to use it when he vetoed a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq.

Robert Derga, of Uniontown, Ohio, gave Mr. Bush the pen after an April 16 speech by the president at the White House.

Mr. Bush invited a number of “Gold Star Families” — families who have lost a U.S. military member in Iraq — to the speech, and met with them afterwards in the Oval Office.

Mr. Derga, 53, had brought the pen with him. It was the pen he had used to write letters to his son, Marine Cpl. Dustin A. Derga.

“It was just a common run of the mill … I don’t even remember the brand name,” Mr. Derga said, in a phone interview last night. “It was just a $2 pen. Nothing special.”

Mr. Bush met with the Dergas and other families for about 45 minutes, and spoke directly with each family.

“I looked the president square in the eye,” Mr. Derga said. “I looked at him and said, ‘Mr. President, if this Iraq supplemental comes down to a veto I want you to use my pen to do it.’”

Mr. Bush “kind of looked at me funny for a moment and then said, ‘Absolutely,’ and then handed the pen to his assistant,” Mr. Derga said.

“He assured me he would use it,” Mr. Derga said.

Dustin was killed in Iraq on May 8, 2005, while leading house-to-house searches in Ubaydi, Iraq. He was 24.

Dustin was the first Marine killed in Lima Company, with the Marine Force Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, out of Columbus, Ohio.

But Lima Company, a group of 160 reservists, suffered the highest casualty rate of any company so far in the Iraq war.

They lost 23 Marines during their seven-month deployment in 2005.

Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Derga was shutting off his computer at work, around 5:30, when he received a call from Jared Weinstein, Mr. Bush’s personal aide.

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