Eulogy - written by Dale's Uncle, Joseph Lee

This eulogy was written and delivered by my uncle, Joseph Lee.

Eulogy given
Nov 27, 2004
at Memorial Service for
Corporal Dale Burger, Jr.
Oak Grove Baptist Church

"My nephew was like any other little boy. Dale Allen Burger, Jr. was born at Franklin Square Hospital July 9, 1983, and was raised in and around the Bel Air area. He went to local schools. Played Little League and Ice Hockey.

He had a small group of close friends, and went to their birthday and swimming parties. Even went with them on vacations, and vice-versa. At 16 he heard a calling - the same calling that made his dad volunteer for service in Vietnam - the same calling that led to his grandpa's landing in Normandy on D-Day. He dropped out of school to complete his GED and with his mom's signature, signed up to join the Marines at the earliest legal age of 17-1/2. And all before 9/11 happened.

Deep down inside we had our reservations, because at that time Dale Jr. was maybe all of 120 pounds "soaking-wet", a lanky almost scrawny kid inspite of working out with a set of weights given him a few years earlier. He grew up in streets no meaner than the suburbs of Bel Air. He always had a quiet, almost shy, but kind, temperament about him, so we weren't sure if he could put up with the intense physical, mental and emotional rigors of Boot Camp. But he went in with the steely determination of someone with a destiny. And he knew we loved him and supported him in what he was doing.

He completed Basic Training, and we rejoiced with him in his accomplishment. But the road ahead could only go uphill. We reminded him he was loved no matter how he fared. That he was already a Hero to us for just taking the initiative to sign up and try out for the Marines. We knew there was plenty of danger ahead.

In the next two years, the Marines would turn him from a wayward child into a confident and able young man. Beside all the physical challenges, they taught him discipline, honor, duty, courage, commitment - all the good virtues that are hard to teach anyone. They bulked up his small frame to be able to carry a 80 pound pack for many miles through rough terrain. They taught him how to operates several weapons proficiently, how to rappel out of helicopters and make beach assaults from the sea. He was taught how to be a "lean, mean killing machine".

He earned a Rifleman's Badge for Marksmanship as well as an award for Leadership. And once was honored for saving the lives of two of his fellow Marines while training in the high mountains of Sierra Nevada. He was able to function on barely 3 hours of sleep a day - this from a child whom I've always known to needed 8 or 9.

His first deployment took him to the far Pacific - Singapore, Okinawa, and the small island country of East Timor. There as part of a UN peacekeeping mission, he befriended small children from the neighboring village. Dale Jr would have preferred to pass out candy to children, rebuild a bridge, or dig a well for water, in doing his duty, rather than operate an M-16 automatic rifle. But he was trained to use the latter. This sea-based deployment was cut short to return for more desert training. We could see the writing on the wall.

A few weeks later his unit would be in Kuwait and he met the enemy for the first time. While training in the deserts of Kuwait, another unit in the same Battalian came under fire from two Kuwaitis who had earlier befriended the unit. And this while none of the Marines had live ammo. Word got out and Dale Jr's unit armed themselves and captured these two Islamists.

Due to operational secrecy, we didn't know Dale Jr was fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom, although we had suspected it, until about three weeks into the war, back in 2003. His first taste of actual combat was a doozy. An advance unit of Marines had encountered a fake surrender of the enemy at An Nasariah. The unit was ambushed and over 20 Marines were killed. The ensuing firefight lasted for over eleven hours. Dale Jr later told me it was like a video game... except it was for real... and although he hated to admit it, he was good at it. The whole time, he was thinking about the Marines that were killed in action.

His unit went north toward Baghdad along the Tigris River. Many times going into strange towns and villages, he "walked point" which meant he was the lead guy. This was probably because he had keen vision and was taller than most of the others and being skinny he also offered a smaller silhouette. It was also probably because he didn't have a fiancee, wife or children back home. Later he would tell me "Don't worry Uncle Joe, they don't shoot the first guy. Plus my buddies would cover me anyway." His unit moved so quickly they came close to running out of food and ammo several times. They also endured wearing thick heavy chemical warfare suits, the freezing cold nites, the blinding sandstorms, and no showers or mail for months.

When he came home the first time, we gave him a hero's welcome among our family and a few close friends. His grandma's family, who all live and work in New York City, were especially grateful. They came down in four carloads. They understood the connection that what Dale Jr was doing in Iraq directly helped to protect them from terrorists.

His second tour in Iraq wasn't a secret. Before he could begin that, he had to bury his dad. Dale Jr was strong throughout the whole ordeal and was a comfort to the rest of the family. He felt that Marine legacy no stronger than at Arlington Cemetary when an honor guard commended his father's place in history with a ceremony befitting a hero. His father lived a lifetime of hardship from his combat injuries and our wish was that Dale Jr not repeat it. We denied to ourselves anything worse could happen to him, because we remembered his unit made it back the first time without a single casualty.

A couple days before he was KIA, Dale sustained a shrapnel wound in the forearm. He called his mom to let her know he was okay. She reminded him his unit was scheduled to come home in a couple weeks and he would be done his enlistment in less than a couple months. In essense, this was his "ticket home". It was his call to make. When medically cleared to go, he decided to return to the line. He felt, even with limited use of his arm, he could still be an asset to his unit - could still fire a rifle, still be another set of eyes and ears. He also called his sister and told her that he couldn't live with himself if another member of his unit dies and he could have helped out in any way. In the end, Dale Jr was faithful to the Corp - Semper Fidelis. He went back, and was fatally shot.

It is, of course, selfish to say that we wished he was a little less brave, a little less honorable, a little less committed - then he would be with us here today. As consolation, we know he gave his life doing something he was immensely proud of doing, something he believed in and something he knew was making a difference for the better in this world. And so we carry on, knowing his sacrifice was the price he had to pay to protect us all. We take solace in knowing that Dale Jr doesn't just belong to us, but now to the greater community, to this great country and to the cause of freedom which he represented.

---Thank you all for coming and helping tooo honor the life of Dale Burger Jr."