Lest we forget

Forty three years ago Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of a Detroit, Mich. crowd and gave one of the most powerful quotes in our nation's history.

"If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

Though the "something" Buffalo native and United States Marine Corps Lance Corporal Howard March was fighting for was different than Martin Luther King Jr., family and friends would probably say this young Marine had found something he felt that powerful about.

The tragedy however, in believing so strongly in something is that it may someday require giving ones life.

When LCPL March gave his life on the field of battle last week in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq, he was 20 years old; he was the age of most college sophomores. At a time when most students are in their second year of college, he was experiencing combat on his second tour of duty in Iraq.

For Americans, the war has become the subject of countless debates. But we can all find common ground on one thing. We can all be glad that we have people willing to put their lives on the line for us.

Thank the Lord that America has men like LCPL Howard March.

Stopping terrorists and eliminating their breeding grounds, freedom for innocent people and an all-globe American 911 force, these are the things that LCPL March died doing for us.

Let us never forget that, and above all else let us never forget him.

Though I didn't know him personally, I knew his uniform, and because men like him die for what that uniform stands for, I'll spend my life living for what the men in that uniform has given our country, and honoring the men that died for it.

Standing in the pouring rain Wednesday morning at the grave sight was a somber scene, and based on the testimonials of those who knew this young hero it appeared as if the rain and tears we're mixed into one sadness.

Yet, myself and many of the other Marines present know that LCPL March gave his all in an effort to better this world, and is now carrying out another mission.

His dreams of the future with his new wife, are now gone. But he lives on in the hearts and minds of those that loved him. As he should live on in the hearts of every American because they respect what he did for our nation.

Many times, the deaths of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are slowly forgotten, not intentionally but because ordinary civilians have become desensitized by the toll this war has taken on our military.

But each and every one of the 2736 deaths in Iraq were deeply tragic. Each dead serviceman had a family, some had wives and children, brothers and sisters; all had friends who cared about them. To the people close to those men and women, it was not a news story from a faraway place. It was a heartbreak that will never be forgotten. That shouldn't have to be the circumstance for all of us to feel that type of impact.

LCPL March will be missed by a community, family, friends, brothers-in-arms and by our country. For his life through his death embodies what true heroism is - selfless sacrifice for others.

At the service Pastor Matthew Brown said, "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

My personal experience has taught me that Marines are as close as men can be. They live together, fight together, and sometimes they die together. LCPL March did just that, and showed the greatest love of all for his friends and his country.

He can rest in peace now, he gave his life when his country needed him to do a job that most would fear. Let him be a source of pride and respect, and remember that God took this young man from this world but he will live on in the memories of his family, his country, and in the Marines he died for, as long as we never forget.