We Are So Proud of Him, Our Marine
We had to let him know. Had to make sure his family knew what his life and their God awful sacrifice meant. Little knots of us ~ five, ten, fifteen strong ~ lined the miles from the funeral home to the gates of NAS Pensacola. So many strangers, all with the same aching heart. The strangers with red eyed, tear streaked faces who nodded at us through car windows, tissues pressed to their mouths, as the miles long procession rolled quietly on by.
Strangers on street corners and sidewalks. I met Frances, who helped me hold my ratty flag. She was there on her birthday with her very gentlemanly husband. Their son Gary, a Vietnam Marine, rode the one motorcycle in the unending line of cars; the Marine Corps flag flying proudly from his handlebars. There was the dad who made sure his son was with him, complete with red, white and blue bandana flags. “It’s hard to find little flags this time of year”, he said. “We had these bandanas…” I thought they were perfect.
And then the escort appeared. Flags went up, backs stood tall and straight, hats came off and hands went on hearts. On all those aching hearts. By God, we’re proud of you, son. All of us just wanted you to know.
On eagle’s wings, sweet boy. Semper Fi, Marine.
Military Thingies | Mr. Bingley | 
November 2, 2005 4:00 pm
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Aw shit.
I needed a cry at the end of the day.
On eagle’s wings, for sure.
Wow, that is extremely touching.
What they said. Be at peace, my friend.
Thank you for sharing this, THS.
Agreed. Thanks for sharing.
Be at peace, Marine.
You need a Kleenex Alert! sign at the beginning of this post. So that military wives such as myself will be prepared. 🙂
(Is that Major Dad in the fetching blue fleece?)
No, that’s not him.
And I don’t think that’s him in the white hat, either…
buwhahahahahahahahaha