Tulsa mom watches TV all day looking for her Marine son

Most of us can turn off the TV when we've had enough of the war coverage. But for the mom of one Tulsa US Marine, it's tough to ignore. <br><br>News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says Peggy Pinkston

Tuesday, March 25th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Most of us can turn off the TV when we've had enough of the war coverage. But for the mom of one Tulsa US Marine, it's tough to ignore.

News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says Peggy Pinkston sees TV sets everywhere she turns. We mean that quite literally. She works in the control room at WilTel Communications, where every wall is covered with monitors. Her 20-year-old son, Levi Avery, is a corporal in the Marines, and the last she heard, he was inside Iraq, but she has no idea where.

She says she finds herself scanning every monitor, hoping to catch a glimpse of her son. "I'm glued to them. I mean you just can't get away from it, y'know. They're there and it's my job and I'm lookin' at it constantly. Every story if I hear that somebody's been injured I crank up the audio so I can hear if it was the Army, the Navy, Marine, or the whoever. Of course they all have a similar haircut and they all begin to look alike. But you search every face. That comes, thinking it might be him."

In his last letter, Levi even said a cameraman was traveling with his group, raising Peggy's hopes even more that she might spot him.

It's tough on her, but she says both she and her son believe in the mission.