Mrs.Crary had just returned home from the hospital and put her brand new baby girl on the bed when the knock at the door came. Two Marines were standing outside her door. She knew her husband was gone.

     Lt. Morrell J. Crary was the first man to welcome me to my new grunt outfit in Vietnam. As a new guy I was shunned by the "salts" and pretty much left alone to figure things out on my own.(this was my third day in Vietnam) Lt. Crary came to my foxhole after we had humped about five -hot -green miles to our new position in the DMZ. He introduced himself and told me he was from Salem, Oregon. Being from Oregon myself , I latched onto the conversation as a leech would latch onto our bodies. We talked about our respective homes and the Lt. struck me as a man who cared about his men.

     As the Lt. left me to attend to his duties, he told me to dig in and that he would send someone over to be my hole partner. He told me to listen to him and pay attention and that in the morning our platoon would go out on patrol.

     As he stated, we lined up about an hour after daybreak and headed into the jungle. Five minutes later the Lt. took a round to the head and fell seriously wounded. Lt. Crary was about two men ahead of me in the column and things fast forwarded into a frenzy of gunfire and peculiar motion.

     The next day we learned that the Lt. had died and I learned about his wife expecting to give birth any day. It hit me how "out of order" things were and the order of death in this place was totally out of order. I was out of order.

     For years after Vietnam, I often wondered how the widow of Lt. Crary had faired and how the baby had grown up. I finally met Jeanie thirty-some-years after that fateful day. I also met her daughter Shannon and her son. As I stood to leave I shook the hand of the Lt. Crary's grandson. A treamor hit me like a wave of water going through my blood. It was like shaking the hand of Lieutenat Crary thirty- years ago.

     Lt. Crary and Jeanie had been childhood sweethearts and the former Mrs.Crary told me that Morrell had a signed contract to play professional baseball once he was out of the Marines.

     We will never know, but he could have been our generations hall of fame hero.

     This story is depicted in the book. This is why I have that tender spot for the kids. They pay the highest price when one of ours is killed.

     Did you know that over 3,000 service folks are killed each year. That is in peace time training accidents or other deaths related to serving our country.

Semper Fi

Wayne

If you would like to order Wayne's Book please visit his web site directly at:

http://www.burymewithsoldiers.com

  


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