Cleanup heroes

For nearly a week, Southeast Missourian reporter Scott Moyers and photographer Don Frazier accompanied members of the 1140th Engineer Battalion as they began a cleanup mission in New Orleans.

What our readers learned from the stories and photos was something members of the 1140th -- many of them veterans of the war in Iraq -- already knew: The daily grind of military missions is not always glamorous, but it has its inspirational and emotional moments.

One thing that strikes most everyone who goes to New Orleans and other hurricane-stricken areas of the Gulf Coast is the sense of emptiness. Without people, traffic and the noise of our daily lives, familiar places become eerie and foreign.

What the 1140th is doing in New Orleans is vital to the city's return to some sense of normalcy. It is not a pretty job cleaning up the ravages and muck of one of the most violent storms in history. But without the efforts of men and women like those in the 1140th, the road to recovery would be much longer and, in some cases, impossible.

Special thanks go to all who are involved in the Hurricane Katrina cleanup efforts: military, volunteers, contractors and countless others who are giving their all to restore order and make way for the people, the traffic and the noise that are temporarily absent.