The Hoon Nowack we knew was not the front-page person

To The Daily Sun,

As I picked up The Daily Sun this morning (May 10, 2019) I stared in anguished disbelief at the front page article and picture of Hoon Nowack. While I assume the article accurately described the encounter between the police and Mr. Nowack on the previous afternoon, neither it nor the mug shot seemed to have any connection to the man I knew as Hoon Nowack.

My husband and I met Hoon, his former wife, along with their then-two small children more than 20 years ago in Laconia at the Evangelical Baptist Church. Later, their younger son was born while they lived in an apartment rented from us. Hoon was in the Marine Reserves, worked multiple jobs and was attending school while his wife cared for their children. The Nowacks were always on time with their rent, but one evening just before Christmas, Hoon knocked on our door. I can still picture him in my mind, a slim, nice-looking young man standing tall, obviously having trouble telling us that he would be a bit late with the rent, but would pay as soon as he could. My husband and I looked at each other and said, “Didn’t he pay the rent? Oh, yes, I think so.” It took a lot of convincing for Hoon to accept his clean slate, but finally he left us with a bewildered but grateful look as he wished us a Merry Christmas.

Hoon quickly became a sharpshooter in the Marines, earning him the position as sniper on each of his three deployments, first in the Persian gulf and later in Afghanistan. During those deployments, the church sent care packages to Hoon and helped his wife in whatever way we could. We all prayed for his safety.

About a year into his last deployment, one Sunday in 2009, we were rewarded not only with his presence but with the news that he had been decorated a hero with the Bronze Star. A Deacon who had attended the award ceremony described the heroic action to us. Hoon was in a Humvee with several other marines when the driver ran over an IED. The driver was killed while the rest of the men were pinned down by a group of attackers. Hoon single-handedly killed the attackers, saving his own life and the lives of those with him.The whole congregation stood cheering for our returning hero. I saw his older son smile shyly, looking up at his father. Hook looked surprised, but stood modestly nodding his thanks. As The Leatherneck news reported, “Sargent Nowack said he was just doing his job, and brushed the honor off as just another medal.”

Hoon sustained a physical injury in that attack, but there was another injury that slowly revealed itself over time, leading him to the incident reported in the paper. It was the injury that we didn’t see that hurt Hoon the most, torturing him constantly until we didn’t recognize him in a mug shot. This wound is as real as if he had lost his legs. It’s just harder to see. Oddly, were he not a man who cared deeply about others, his pain would not be as deep. Hoon Nowack is not the man you see in the mug shot. He is a wounded hero.

To Hoon, should you ever read this, surely you will face consequences for your actions, but for whatever memories torture you, your slate was wiped clean thousands of years ago. Please accept it, bewildered as you might be.

Diane DiBiaso

Sanbornton