done

Jacksonville, FL — It is a rare event on the trail when the candidate, voters, media and campaign staff all fall silent and listen. We experienced such a moment Tuesday when Rudy Giuliani paused a campaign speech today and invited the parents of three local soldiers killed in Iraq to share memories about their children.

At the start of his address on military issues at a war memorial in Jacksonville, Giuliani asked Caroline Woods, Dave and Monica Seamans, and Joanne Goucher (in order of appearance) up to the stage to address the crowd of about 300.

–Woods lost her son Julian in Falluja in November 2004.
–The Seamans lost their son Timothy in Samarra in August 2005.
–Goucher lost her son William in January 2007.

The unscripted moment completely overshadowed and overpowered the mayor’s planned speech, but that was ok.

**Note that Woods was interrupted (audio can be heard off-camera) by a pro-life protester yelling “baby killer,” who has been hounding Giuliani on the trail for weeks. Woods had trouble hearing protester, but remained strong in spite of the interruption and actually used it to reinforce her argument. I will let the video speak for itself.