I have developed a personal tradition regarding Memorial Day, which occurs on the last Sunday of May each year. I take a moment to read the Memorial Day address given by Col Craig Tucker, the Commanding Officer of Regimental Combat Team 7 (RCT-7), on 31 May, 2004. We had a formation at Camp Ripper, Al Asad, Al Anbar province, Iraq with representatives of all the constituent units in the RCT at that time. We had taken 23 Marines killed in action (and far more wounded) between our arrival in February 2004 and that day in May. Each "dog tag" hung on the rifle represented one fallen Marine or Sailor. By the end of the deployment, the number of the fallen would roughly triple. I will always feel privileged to have played a small part in that regiment's history, and to have kept company with such great Americans.
Semper Fidelis,
LtCol James Kendall
Tokyo, Japan
31 May 2004. Memorial Day
RCT-7 Memorial Day Service
Remarks by CO, RCT-7: “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.RCT-7 Memorial Day Service
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.
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, IraqOn 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 DOMINIQUE J. NICOLAS
C Co, 1st CEB
Died as a result of wounds received in Hit, Iraq
On 26 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
Share Your Courage
Ancient History Sourcebook: Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE): Pericles' Funeral Oration from the Peloponnesian War (Book 2.34-46)