Memorial Day Message

Since the campus is closed on Friday and on Monday in observance of Memorial Day, I am posting my Memorial Day Message today:

Four years ago, in what seemed like another life, my good friend Sean Brock and I spent Memorial Day in Okinawa, Japan, sitting on a knoll overlooking the East China Sea. We spoke about many things that day: family and friends in the U.S.; my pending rotation back to the states in June to be quickly followed by my retirement ceremony; and about the courageous Marines who fought and died in the Battle of Okinawa during World War II.

Sean was a Marine’s Marine, and being in Okinawa assigned to a Headquarters Battalion unit pained him. He wanted to be in combat with fellow Marines serving in Afghanistan and Iraq—it was what he trained for when he was an enlisted Marine straight out of high school, and it was what he yearned for when, after successful completion of his first tour of duty, he went to college to get a degree in order to become an Officer of Marines.

Sean was the Marine responsible for collecting funds and putting together the “Shadow Box” that hangs with honor in my office. Another Marine had been assigned the tasked, but Sean wanted to do it because he “wanted it done right.” That was Sean, always wanting to do the right thing.

I left Okinawa a couple of weeks after our Memorial Day discussion and it was Sean who drove me to the airport. Sean kept in touch with me and I still remember his last email where he told me had finally finagled a way to get assigned to a combat unit serving in Iraq. I wished him “Godspeed” and never heard from him again. A couple of months after that final email, Sean was killed in combat action in Al Anbar Province on Feb. 2, 2005. He left behind a beautiful young wife and the appreciation of a grateful Nation.

During the Memorial Day Observance/Holiday on Monday, please take a moment to remember Sean and all the other brave men and women who have died in battle wearing our Nation’s uniform while in service to our country—warriors like Sgt. Aaron N. Cepeda Sr., USMC, who was a former student at Palo Alto College and who died in combat action on May 7, 2005.

For a complete listing of all local service members who have died in the current conflict, please visit the 210SA website at http://www.210sa.com/content/view/2119/ or pick up this week’s issue which lists a photo along with a name.

To all who have served, Semper Fidelis. To all service members who have died in battle, we will never forget.

Taps: http://www.usmemorialday.org/audio/taps.wav