February 26, 2018 at 4:03 p.m.
A special cabin at Camp American Legion
For Lesa and Dan Raimer, it's about honoring and remembering
A special cabin at Camp American Legion
As the role of the camp transitions and expands to include not only veterans but their families, there are plans to build a cabin there for a certain group of families.
Referred to as the "Cabin for The Families of The Fallen," Camp American Legion director Don Grundy said the cabin will be a place for families who have lost a loved one while that person was in U.S. military service.
"It'll be a place for them to go and grieve as a family, collectively," he said. "It's really, I think, an opportunity for those folks to come up and know that ... they're not forgotten. Their loved ones aren't forgotten. That we will continue to stand beside them as long as we exist."
The cabin's construction will be funded in part by Lesa and Dan Raimer, who lost their son, Matt, on Jan. 1, 2014.
The Wisconsin American Legion is also partnering with funding as well as the location at Camp American Legion.
Matt Raimer was in the United States Marine Corps and passed away a few months before he was to finish his enlistment in the service. He was 25 years old.
Dan Raimer, himself a veteran of service in the Marines Corps Reserve in the early 1980s, said Matt was the third of four children.
"Matt was our only son," he said. "He was definitely an independent thinker and always willing to help people."
Dan said his son was also an excellent griller and would take over for his dad when there was any grilling going on at the house.
"He taught the Marines on the base how to grill, too," he said. "His bacon- wrapped asparagus was notorious."
Matt Raimer followed his dad into the Marine Corps, enlisting in 2009.
He became a helicopter mechanic, working on the upgraded versions of the Bell UH-1 "Huey" helicopters and Cobra attack helicopters the Marines use.
"He repaired the skins and the hydraulics on the aircraft," Dan said.
Matt was deployed to Afghanistan's Helmand province with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469.
His unit was at Camp Bastion in September 2012, when it was attacked by Taliban insurgents.
The attack resulted in the deaths of two Marines, Lt. Col Christopher K. Raible and Sgt. Bradley Atwell.
Matt's 2004 Ford F-150 pickup truck, which the Raimers maintain in his memory, has personalized license plates that say HMLA 469.
A place to go
According to Dan, the idea for the cabin came from Matt's sister, Amber.
"Matt always wanted a hunting cabin," he said. "Amber said maybe it would be a good idea to build a cabin in Matt's honor. Have a place for people to go and grieve. So, we kind of took off with that idea."
Dan said the couple had been looking at properties to build the cabin for a long time and the Camp American Legion location seemed ideal.
"It's just beautiful," he said. "It's on its own peninsula. It's just the perfect setting."
The Raimers are happy with the design the architect has come up with - a three bedroom cabin featuring a gathering room and another room called the "serenity room," which Lesa Raimer said was her idea.
"The architect was very flexible, very understanding, very respectful," she said.
After Matt died, Lesa said the couple traveled in a recreational vehicle for a two and a half years.
"We did that in his honor and in his memory because that's what he was going to do after he got out of the Marines in June of '14," she said.
Being in that RV together could be very challenging, Lesa said, one of the challenges being that Dan uses a wheelchair, the result of injuries sustained in a car accident several years ago.
The idea for the "serenity room" comes from some of that experience.
"You know, when you're grieving, sometimes you just need to go be by yourself," she said. "Where no one can hear or see you. So that room is for people who just want to be alone or alone with another person."
One feature Lesa hopes to see in that room is each branch of the U.S. military represented in stained glass on a window.
"We just wanted to honor people," Lesa said. "Our oldest daughter (Amber) is in the Air Force right now."
There's one other person in their family they think about a lot, who is no longer with them.
Twelve years ago, the Raimers lost another of their four children. Their youngest daughter, Laticia, was killed in a car accident at age 16.
The cabin will be another thing they will be doing that won't let people forget.
"We want to keep Matt's and his little sister's memory going," Lesa said.
Grundy said the goal is to have the groundbreaking for the cabin sometime this July and, hopefully, the ribbon cutting ceremony sometime after Christmas.
However, he noted that all involved realize there are other things that goal hinges on, such as finding the right building contractor, for one.
Whatever the case, whether it's 2018 or a year or two from now, as much as they can't wait to see it, the Raimers don't have a set time frame for cabin completion.
"We just want to make sure it's done right the first time," Dan said.
Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].
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