TRIBUTE - Marines In Iraq on Memorial Day

Posted By Blackfive

Amy K. sends this speech (complete with photos of the memorial) given by Colonel Craig A. Tucker, USMC, Commander of RCT-7, gave to the Marines at Al Asad, Iraq, honoring Memorial Day. Amy's husband is a Marine Corps Officer with RCT-7.

31 May 2004 - Memorial Day RCT-7 Memorial Day Service - Al Asad, Iraq Americans across the globe pause today to remember and honor our nation’s war dead. Back home, in cities, county parks, farming towns, and backyards amidst parades, picnics and speeches our country remembers millions. We gather here today, in a dusty courtyard on an airbase in Iraq, to remember 23. Many have told me over these last few days that this short talk should reverberate with words linking those we remember today to great causes and purposes. I do not have those kinds of words in me today. I don’t need them. The truth has nobility enough.Our families and friends assemble today at their picnics and parades free of fear and terror. They assemble as the normal commerce of life in the U.S. proceeds apace, their children safe from the terror that stalks this globe. That sense of security and freedom from fear does not, however, make this enemy any less dangerous or any less real.This is a war against terror, fighting an enemy whose strategy is to focus his death and destruction on our families, our neighbors, and our citizens; an enemy whose tactics are designed to instill fear by killing our children in their homes as we stand helplessly by. That horror has moved away from our shores because men like you, and those men we remember today, are willing to endure the sacrifices required to engage this enemy here.Each man we honor today paid the ultimate sacrifice, and when that moment of sacrifice alighted upon each Marine’s personal battlefield, his feet stood fast, he stood to his duty, and he honored the loyalty of his friends and his fellow Marines. They were worthy of their country, of their forefathers, and of their buddies. We can pay them no greater honor than to paint each of them into our memory and to promise, each in our own way and each to our own thoughts, that we will never forget them. And for as long as any here live, their memorial day will not be the last Monday in May; their memorial is their lives sculpted into the hearts of their friends, a memorial enduring for the generations all of you have left to live, a memorial that comes to life when we speak of them, laugh over their antics, cry over them, talk to our family and friends about them, or sit quietly and feel the pain of their loss to our fellowship.As for me, I knew few of them personally, but I remember all of their names; I remember the hour and date of their death, I remember how and where they died, I know the names of those they left behind. And for the remainder of my days their memorial will be that remembering: that these young men I counted as my sons have far exceeded the honors of their fathers. “

In Memoriam

LCPL ARIC J. BARR
2ND Bn, 7TH Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Hit, Iraq
On 3 March 2004

PFC RICKY A. MORRIS
3rd Bn, 7th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received Husaybah, Iraq
On 17 March 2004

PFC BRANDON C. SMITH
3rd Bn, 7th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received Husaybah, Iraq
On 18 March 2004

CPL DAVID M. VICENTE
2ND Bn, 7TH Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Hit, Iraq
On 19 March 2004

PFC DUSTIN M. SEKULA
2ND Bn, 7TH Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Al Anbar Province, Iraq On 1 April 2004

LCPL CHRISTOPHER B. WASSER
3rd Bn, 7th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Husaybah, Iraq
On 8 April 2004

CPL NICHOLAS J. DIERUF
1st LAR Bn
Died as a result of wounds received in Al Bu Jardin, Iraq
On 8 April 2004

LCPL ELIAS TORREZ III
3rd Bn, 7th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Sa’dah, Iraq
On 9 April 2004

CPL DANIEL R. AMAYA
3RD Bn, 4th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Fallujah, Iraq
On 11 April 2004

LCPL TORREY L. GRAY
3RD Bn, 4th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Fallujah, Iraq
On 11 April 2004

1STLT OSCAR JIMENEZ
3RD Bn, 4th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Fallujah, Iraq
On 11 April 2004

CPL JASON L. DUNHAM
3rd Bn, 7th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Husaybah, Iraq
On 14 April 2004

CAPT RICHARD J. GANNON II
3rd Bn, 7th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Husaybah, Iraq
On 18 April 2004

CPL CHRISTOPHER A. GIBSON
3rd Bn, 7th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Husaybah, Iraq
On 18 April 2004

LCPL MICHAEL J. SMITH JR
3rd Bn, 7th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Husaybah, Iraq
On 18 April

LCPL RUBEN VALDEZ JR
3rd Bn, 7th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Husaybah, Iraq
On 18 April

LCPL GARY F. VANLEUVAN
3rd Bn, 7th Marines
Died as a result of wounds received in Husaybah, Iraq
On 18 April 2004

LCPL BOB W. ROBERTS
C Co, 1st CEB
Died as a result of wounds received in Al Asad, Iraq
On 17 May 2004

CPL RUDY SALAS
1st LAR Bn
Died as a result of wounds received on MSR Tin, Iraq
On 20 May 2004

SSGT JORGE A. MOLINABAUTISTA
1st LAR Bn
Died as a result of wounds received in Al Anbar Province, Iraq
On 23 May 2004

CPL MATTHEW C. HENDERSON
C Co, 1st CEB
Died as a result of wounds received in Hit, Iraq
On 26 May 2004

LCPL KYLE W. CODNER
C Co, 1st CEB
Died as a result of wounds received in Hit, Iraq
On 26 May 2004

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Source: Pericles Funeral Oration

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TRIBUTE - Marines In Iraq on Memorial Day

Amy K. sends this speech (complete with photos of the memorial) given by Colonel Craig A. Tucker, USMC, Commander of RCT-7, gave to the Marines at Al Asad, Iraq, honoring Memorial Day. Amy's husband is a Marine Corps Officer with RCT-7.

31 May 2004 - Memorial Day RCT-7 Memorial Day Service - Al Asad, Iraq Americans across the globe pause today to remember and honor our nation’s war dead. Back home, in cities, county parks, farming towns, and backyards amidst parades, picnics and speeches our country remembers millions. We gather here today, in a dusty courtyard on an airbase in Iraq, to remember 23.

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Kleenex Alert. Go read this post at Blackfive to hear and see how Marines celebrated Memorial Day in Iraq. It will put a tear in your eye, and make you proud too. LW... [Read More]