A Marine"s Story

September, 2007 - It has been nearly three years since I created this site and I've decided to give it a fresh look. I still miss him everyday but I believe the best way to honour his memory is to live my life to the fullest, as he would want me to do.

Jen

(Written in November 2004, immediately after Dale's death)

Dale is my baby brother and he died on Sunday. I’m not a very good writer but I want everyone to remember him. It’s hard because in my head he is still a baby I can’t really believe that this has happened. I want everyone to know who he was.


If any of you know my family you know that we are a Marine family. My father, Dale Sr., was a Marine and a Vietnam veteran. Dale always wanted to be a Marine too.

Dad suffered from various health problems for most of my life, in part because he was wounded in Vietnam. His health worsened when I was eleven years old (Dale was nine). He lapsed into a coma and when he awoke two or so weeks later he had brain damage and was never the same.

This made life in our family really difficult. Mom had to take care of the three of us kids (I have a younger sister too) plus dad. Dad’s brain damage made him really difficult to deal with and be around. Dale struggled but was able to stay focused because of his dream of being a Marine.

When Dale was sixteen he left school and got his GED so he could join the Marines at age seventeen. I remember when graduated from boot camp he told me it was the happiest day of his life.

Dale was deployed three times, twice to Iraq. Until the last day he always loved being a Marine.


Reporters have told Dale’s story, similar to the one above, but that’s not really important and that’s not really how I want him remembered. Because that’s not a person’s life, that a soldier’s life, and Dale was more than a soldier. So here’s how I remember Dale.


Thursday, September 13, 2007

Dale's Birthdays

Originally written in November 2004

My brother and grandfather, Pop, share the same birthday. Every year Dale was home we would celebrate their birthdays at my grandparent's restaurant, Young China.

Dale celebrated his last birthday in Iraq. For his 21st birthday his friends made him a small cake with Kool Aid frosting and matches as candles.

Posted by Jennifer at 6:58 PM

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