Posted on 10/17/2008 5:38:32 PM PDT by SandRat
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C., Oct. 17, 2008 Marines, sailors, family and friends, each displaying a mixture of cheerful and solemn expressions, gathered around the fuel pump house here to honor their fallen hero Oct. 10.
The unanimous theme among speakers at the event was that McVickers personality inspired both his fellow Marines as well as his superiors. I went out with Dan to buy an engagement ring for my girlfriend at the time, said Marine Corps Sgt. Joseph K. Freeman, a recruiter at Indiana, Pa. I couldnt figure out how to propose, when all of a sudden he shouted, Ive got it! He told me to get my girlfriend and meet him at Indian Beach, Freeman said. By the time we got to the beach he had grabbed a bunch of Marines and other friends we knew and had written, Megan will you marry me? with seaweed in the sand. Thats just how Dan was, Freeman added. If it wasnt for him, I couldnt have proposed as gloriously to my wife. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Linda Tierney, the fuels team leader with station fuels, said although many Marines didnt get a chance to know McVicker personally, they still were able to form a bond with the fallen Marine. The ceremony allowed them to meet the family and really find out who he was, Tierney said. Now, if you ask any Marine at station fuels, they talk about him as if they were close friends. It amazes me to hear about all the things he did for other people and how he touched them, said Marine Corps Cpl. Jason Hopkins, a bulk fuel specialist with station fuels. When his mother played the last voicemail she had of him on her cell phone, there wasnt a dry eye around. After all the comments were made, Daniels father, Mark, hung a commemorative plaque on the front of the fuel pump house. Along with his name and the dates of his birth and death was an excerpt from the Bible, Daniel 10:6. It reads: His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. Lance Cpl. Daniel McVicker, of Alliance, Ohio, was 20 when the vehicle he was driving hit a roadside bomb near Qaim, Iraq. |
Related Sites: Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point |
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Thank you for your service brave soldier, fallen hero. Semper Fi. St.Barbara pray for this young soldier, one of our bravest, one of our best. V’s wife.
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