danausmc
04-09-2004, 10:33 PM
One day I got assigned to count how many loads of limestone that Marine dump trucks brought to the rock crusher outside the An Hoa Combat Base.
An E-5 Sgt. dropped off a load and was also the NCOIC. He stopped to talk for a few minutes and noticed I had written New York on my helmet cover.
He asked where, and he said he lived only a few miles from where I lived. We began to compare names of people we knew and we both had the same COUSIN!! What a coincidence. Him by marriage and me by blood relation. That instantly made us practically brothers. We became fast and close friends. What is the likelihood of that happening 14,000 miles from home?
Who knew? That within less than six weeks, he would be dead. We spent a lifetime together in that short time.
His example to all was of quiet resolve, and an inner strength solely based on his relationship with Jesus Christ. He was one of the few I met in the Marine Corps that openly proclaimed the Gospel.
He was called Rock by the men he was in charge of at An Hoa. Jesus is the ROCK of my salvation.....see where it came from?
He quietly witnessed, but was never a Bible thumper. When one of his guys hit a mine with a D-8 Cat and blew off both tracks and split the side frames, he ran to him and asked him if he believed now?? His man was unhurt.
He prayed each night for the safety of those in his charge, and none were hurt. Although many were involved in spectacular explosions.
I can still see him in my minds eye as I am writing.
Rock, Rest in Peace, in the Arms of Jesus
An E-5 Sgt. dropped off a load and was also the NCOIC. He stopped to talk for a few minutes and noticed I had written New York on my helmet cover.
He asked where, and he said he lived only a few miles from where I lived. We began to compare names of people we knew and we both had the same COUSIN!! What a coincidence. Him by marriage and me by blood relation. That instantly made us practically brothers. We became fast and close friends. What is the likelihood of that happening 14,000 miles from home?
Who knew? That within less than six weeks, he would be dead. We spent a lifetime together in that short time.
His example to all was of quiet resolve, and an inner strength solely based on his relationship with Jesus Christ. He was one of the few I met in the Marine Corps that openly proclaimed the Gospel.
He was called Rock by the men he was in charge of at An Hoa. Jesus is the ROCK of my salvation.....see where it came from?
He quietly witnessed, but was never a Bible thumper. When one of his guys hit a mine with a D-8 Cat and blew off both tracks and split the side frames, he ran to him and asked him if he believed now?? His man was unhurt.
He prayed each night for the safety of those in his charge, and none were hurt. Although many were involved in spectacular explosions.
I can still see him in my minds eye as I am writing.
Rock, Rest in Peace, in the Arms of Jesus