Memorial Day

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I watched a special on the local NBC affiliate last night that had an interview with Jim Sheeler and Katherine Cathey. Jim is the Pulitzer Prize winning writer of the story Final Salute. Katherine is the wife of a Marine second Lt. who learns her husband has been killed in Iraq. The story is amazing, and as the prelude states:

They are the troops that nobody wants to see, carrying a message that no military family ever wants to hear.

It begins with a knock at the door.

For the past year, the Rocky Mountain News has followed Maj. Steve Beck as he takes on the most difficult duty of his career: casualty notification. As Beck and his comrades at Buckley Air Force Base keep constant watch over the caskets of the men they never knew, the Marines also comfort the families of the fallen, and choke back tears of their own.

It's all part of a tradition that started in 1775: Never leave a Marine behind.

After the knock on the door, the story has only begun.

Check it out, if only for the photos.


While we all enjoy our day off, remember some who have gone too soon.

Bring them all home...



And also, click here

Comments

  1. Anonymous11:31 PM

    That would be a sad job, for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cheer349:49 AM

    Thanks for the post. I can't watch the news anymore. Every time I do I cry.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Johnny Yen9:53 AM

    Thanks for sharing that.

    What strong people they must be. It must really drain them after a while.

    Every day, I look at the list the New York Times has of the war dead. My blood boils every time-- they're mostly in their twenties, in the prime of their lives.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1:52 PM

    I feel like saying something about how in a free country govenered by and for the people there should have been a fair exchange of ideas BEFORE unilaterally deciding to go to war... But that wouldn't be nice, so I won't say that.

    There's a lot of jobs I would NOT want in this world (including President of the USA and proctologist) and this is one of them. My gracious...

    ReplyDelete
  5. SkylersDad2:11 PM

    Thanks all, this was an exceptionally tough series to watch when it was being produced. They would show all of the peoples homes that these guys had to visit... I can't imagine.

    ReplyDelete

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