My son Russell came home on leave in April. When his leave was over he left here with $10 to his name.
Russell spent that before he even got back to San Diego.
The Airlines
bumped him up to 1st class. *I thought his chest
was going to explode* It made him feel so good.
He had plane delays which put him at the USO just
after all the shuttles to the base stopped. So
here is my son just after Midnight with no way to get
anywhere. Standing out at the curb with his
seabags.
A few minutes later another flight must
have come in and he found himself suddenly not
alone. 3 other Marines, also with no shuttle to the
base. All standing at the curb. They hailed a cab
and shared it with Russell.
Now all they needed to
do was find a hotel... it was too late to head back to
the base now. Russell told them of the hotel I
stayed in and how well I was treated. So thats where
they went, Again taking care of their own, they
let Russell stay with them.
The next morning the Marines
went across the street to a Denny's. They offered
to get
Russell's breakfast for him. They knew payday was
the next day.
The 4 Marines talked of their visits home over
breakfast and then asked for their check. The waitress
told them she hadn't one for them. And that there
were 5 other patrons who drew straws at the
register to see who won the chance to pay their bill.
*Pointing to the man who actually got the bill.
Russell said it choked him up, they were all
choked up. None of them knew what to say. Just as if
on queue, the gentleman stood up and made his way to
the boys table. He told them he was an X-Navyman and
was proud to show what little appreciation he
could for our brave young men, a
breakfast was a small price to pay compared to the one
they may be facing.
Russell told me that though
they were all Marines, once they saw a tear flow
from that mans face, it was contagious. They stood
and shook his hand and Thanked him for what he had
done.
Most of the employees had heard what this
man said. Russell tells me there wasn't a dry eye
in the whole
place. Everyone was standing around them. Also
before they left others had come up to them, gave
them hugs, shook their hands and Thanked them.
One women even said "I missed getting the long
straw by an inch. Maybe next time" as she winked at
the boys. Russell told me that for the first time
he couldn't find the words to even describe how
all that made him feel. Doubts if he ever will.
It
was however the boost he needed after watching on
the news about the 12 Marines who had been killed
while he was home on leave.
Another story he told me just last night while
once again at an airport(12hr lay over at LAX)about
50 of them went to Hooters and they didn't even
card him. Hes only 19.. LOL. Was kinda proud of
getting his picture taken with all the Hooter Girls.
Imagine being proud of that.. LOL
For myself, I try to think of the first story as much as possible.
As of Sunday(May) Russell was told
that he had a 95% chance of being deployed to Iraq
in about 40 days.
And Russell.... he will probably think more of the second
one.
This story was written in May 2004.
