MISSOULA — On Memorial Day, we often recognize our service members who made the ultimate sacrifice serving our country.
There are other acts of service we remember on this day, too.
American civilians often work alongside service members and face many of the same dangers.
Mike Schwartz was one such civilian, working alongside coalition forces in Afghanistan around 2006 for USAID.
"Part of my job was to go out and visit different projects, because we were involved in road construction and improvements, some bridges, buildings, a lot of canal improvements, and different things like that," Schwartz said.
He and his team of roughly 15 people were working on infrastructure projects in northern Afghanistan when they ran into trouble.
During the incident, two of his fellow team members died.
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"We were demobilizing back to Faisabod. We had one vehicle, which was the unarmored Land Cruiser. And we were traveling back to Faisabod and had gone maybe three-quarters of a mile from the village when an IED, improvised explosive device, blew up our car,” Schwartz said. "The device exploded, and the vehicle was blown approximately 90 feet from the location of the device."
At the time of the explosion, one person was killed instantly.
"We did hear Gul Zeman, our driver, he was emitting cries of pain. So we decided at that time to head back in and get him," Schwartz said. "At that time, another device was detonated while we were approaching him."
Schwartz was somehow uninjured by the blast and continued towards the destroyed Land Cruiser. When he arrived at his colleague still in the vehicle, it was clear he had been mortally wounded. He later died.
"I think it's one part of Memorial Day and the recollections that we have every day from people that have had friends or relatives lost around the world or nearby, and a realization that there are civilians out there that are attempting to do some type of good work," Schwartz said.
Schwartz said remembering civilians in conflict zones is crucial to understanding the broader impact of U.S. involvement overseas.
"I hope people can understand better some of the hard work and risky things, whether you're in the war zone or not, that are going on out there. We thank those people and respect them," Schwartz said.
