Northeast Tacoma Elementary renames its library for graduate, Marines vet killed in Afghanistan

It was Michael Washington’s smile that people remembered most.

It was one of those smiles that made it hard not to smile back, they said. There was the hint of a shared joke, maybe a little bit of mischief, but mostly just sheer, infectious joy at being alive.

Photographs on the new plaque dedicating the Northeast Tacoma Elementary School library to Washington show his smile twice.

On the left, there’s the smile when Washington was in second grade – still with his baby teeth and wearing an open-necked summer shirt.

On the right, it’s there again 12 years later, essentially unchanged, above a U.S. Marine Corps combat uniform, taken shortly before Washington was killed in Afghanistan.

In a touching Veterans Day ceremony Thursday in the school gymnasium, Washington’s friends, family members and former teachers paid tribute to Washington, who died at age 20 on June 14, 2008 - one of four Americans killed when a roadside bomb blew up their Humvee.

Washington graduated from Tacoma’s Stadium High School in 2005 and enlisted in the Marines that fall, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

For the 370 children assembled for the ceremony, speakers tried to construct a meaning for Washington’s death, and for the service of all veterans, and put it in the simplest possible terms.

“I want to tell you about a boy who sat where you are sitting now,” said John Dowd, a Northeast Tacoma Elementary teacher who had Washington in his third-grade class.

“Michael wanted to help people who couldn’t help themselves,” Dowd told the children.

Wendy Bream, another of Washington’s former teachers, told them, “Michael was a boy who wanted to do what was right.”

Thursday’s Veterans Day ceremony at Northeast Elementary was by no means the biggest in the South Sound. An extravaganza Saturday in Auburn drew 3,000 participants and nearly twice that many spectators.

But for getting to the heart of the matter, the ceremony at the school couldn’t have been more effective.

A slide show of photos of children’s relatives who served in the military brought some in the audience to tears.

When principal Anne Tsuneishi invited all veterans in the audience to come up on stage and receive a red rose, more than a quarter of the 100 people in attendance came forward - to long, enthusiastic applause.

The veterans included Washington’s father, also named Michael, wearing his own Marine Corps uniform, covered with medals. “Big Mike,” as his family called him to distinguish him from his son, is a Seattle firefighter and a retired master sergeant.

At a smaller ceremony in the school library, Washington’s father spoke last. He acknowledged all of the compliments given to his son and to his family, but said the school and the larger community were what made him what he was.

“Michael was ordinary,” he said. “I say that in the best way. He was a good, basic kid.

“But what he ended up being as a man – and what a man he was – has to do with just about everybody in this room. When you talk about how good he was, I want you to take a second and appreciate what you all did for him.

“You were the village that helped bring him up. Not everybody is fortunate enough to have that.”

Rob Carson: 253-597-8693

rob.carson@thenewstribune.com