Memorial Day 2018

[btq96r]

Wanted to start a thread to mark Memorial Day. Our country is far from perfect, and we have a long way to go in our quest for that more perfect union, but we are safe and secure in our own lands, able to write our own destiny.  That's in no small part to those who have given their lives in its defense.   I don't expect people to give up their whole weekend, or even the day itself, but I think we as a nation need to do something other than take a three-day and forget what brought it about.

Memorial Day is much less festive when you have people to remember.  Below I wanted to share the stories and photos of three comrades in arms I had the honor of serving with before their lives were cut short.

 

SSG Jeremy Brown.  He died in a vehicle rollover on the road from Mosul to Tal Afar, having taken the spot of one of his soldiers in the gunners hatch.  Anyone who knew Jeremy wouldn't have been shocked for one moment that he did that for his soldier.  I still think of him as the experienced vet who I would go to with problems, even though I'm now 10 years older than he was when he died.  He was in my unit for my first Iraq deployment, and almost as soon as we got back, the army sent him to another post to join another unit deploying.  He had to say goodbye to a wife he barley saw since they married, and a son he had from his first marriage he never saw often enough between his time in Iraq and Korea.

 

SFC Clarance McSwain.  I won't claim to know "Sergeant Mac" well, but when I was attached to his company at an outpost so destitute it was called Patrol Base Swamp, he embraced me with open arms, and had my gut busting at the seams with laughter the whole time I was there.  I still remember how wide his smile was talking about his family, and he even had the hospital bracelet that was starting to fade from a few months before when he took his mid-tour leave to be home for the birth of I think his fourth kid.  I'm sure that bracelet was still on when he died in an IED blast about a month and a half after I met him.

 

SPC Jessica Ellis.  Say what you will about women in combat, but on the course of two deployments, Ellis had the courage to join combat engineers as their medic on route clearance patrols to look for IEDs in and around Baghdad.  A goofy kid who grew up fast over two deployments, and was just coming into her own, she always put the needs of others above hers.  I still remember how she would try to cheer up everyone who she met, especially when I had to visit the docs one day for sick call back in garrison.

 

Enjoy the day tomorrow, but if it pleases, take a moment to have a thought about those who truly paid the price for us to prosper in this day, and all our days as a country.

[res308]

Well done, well done. Thank you for your service as well. 

[n0rlf]

Every year I remember the 241 fellow Marines killed October 23, 1983, in Beirut. 

Semper Fi my brothers. 

A lot of us free up fast that day, so it is never just a three day for us. Unlike a lot of folks I remember why we have this day. And I have taken the time to teach my family why. 

To all that have served, Semper Fi and thank you. 

 

[RED333]

God Bless the ones that gave all.

[phiferran]

Somber day indeed. Thank you for the post. Encouraged me to remember some of my shipmates that gave all. Also helped me to focus on all those who paid the ultimate price and their families. 

[The Legion]