Poker run to benefit Lima Co. families

Saturday event is being held in memory of Derga

Thursday, August 18, 2005
By MACKENZIE WHITE: ThisWeek Staff Writer

By Paul Vernon/ThisWeek Scott Hammond -- a friend of Cpl. Dustin A. Derga, who was killed in Iraq -- holds a T-shirt listing the names of Derga and other servicemen who lost their lives in Operation Matador. The T-shirt was designed to raise money for families of Lima Company members who have been killed in the war. A poker run is also planned to raise money.

Three months after Cpl. Dustin A. Derga lost his life in Iraq, his friends are making sure his memory continues to live on.

This Saturday, motorcycles will roar out of Gatsby's in Gahanna in a poker run that will raise money for fellow Lima Company families who have lost loved ones in the war.

It's a company that's been hit hard, leaving a sadness that's hit close to home.

Derga, a member of the Ohio-based Marine Reserve unit, died May 8 in Ubaydi as the result of enemy fire. According to The Columbus Dispatch, as of last week, no other unit had lost more troops to insurgent attacks in Western Iraq.

Brandon Harmon and Chris Smith are at the helm of the poker run, which will send the bikers to different spots collecting cards before they end at Battalion 8 bar in Reynoldsburg. Owned by friend Scott Hammond, it was Derga's favorite bar.

Smith said dealing with Derga's death hasn't gotten easier.

He'd known Derga since preschool. They grew up together, and, for two years before Derga was deployed, they were roommates.

Losing someone like that is "kind of unreal," Smith said. Yet he points to one positive outcome.

"It's up and down, you know. You have good days and your bad," he said. "And one of the things thats become of all this is that I know a lot of us friends just make sure we call each other more often and everybody kind of makes the extra effort to hang out."

Friends who graduated from Pickerington High School with Derga hadn't seen each other for years, he said -- until Derga's funeral.

"You just kind of realize how precious life is," Smith said.

Derga's friends have also made sure to support his family, which includes father and stepmother, Robert and Marla Derga; mother, Stephanie Derga; and sister, Kristin Derga.

"I know that it's mainly hard on his mother," Smith said. "We all try to make sure we give her a call every day and keep in contact with her and his sister as well."

Harmon is dating Derga's sister. In the days after Derga's death, he acted as family spokesman, fielding calls and answering questions.

As a police officer at Port Columbus International Airport, he isn't a stranger to the way those left behind pull together when they lose one of their own.

"Any time that there's been a fallen officer, this (a poker run) has been a good way of getting people together," he said.

Harmon said he and Smith had planned to give all the money raised to Derga's mom, Stephanie. She said she didn't want it.

Instead, she'll divide it among others with whom the Dergas, tragically, have something in common: A roadside bomb killed14 Marines Aug. 3; nine were from Lima Company, resulting in a rash of funerals stretching across the state.

"Dustin's parents are trying to attend all the funerals they can, just to kind of give some support back," Smith said.

The poker run is Derga's friends' way of doing that. They said they haven't set a goal for how much money they hope to raise.

Smith admitted, though, that he is somewhat nervous by the amount of feedback he's already received about the event.

In just a couple of weeks, the friends have already sold nearly 200 T-shirts they made, bearing the names of soldiers, including Derga, who passed away in the hunt for insurgents known as Operation Matador.

"I guess I'm feeling a little overwhelmed," Smith said. Still, he said, "The more people you can get involved, the more people you can make aware of the situation, the better off we all are."

Harmon said the organizers hope to see the first bike leave Gatsby's by noon and the last bike enter Battalion 8 by 5 p.m.

The Country Sunshine Band from Delaware will perform afterwards.

Gatsby's is located at 151 N. Hamilton Road in Gahanna. Battalion 8 is located at 1355 Briarcliff Road in Reynoldsburg.

Those seeking more information about the poker run can contact Smith at 614-264-9521.