In Memory.
Tuesday, 24 January 2006 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rosiedoesI'm attending a Stargate: Atlantis convention, next month, and I have been buying my costume, as geeks are wont to do.
Recently, I bought a USMC Marpat shirt with the name 'Thompson' on the tapes.
Yesterday, I received this email from the guy who sold it to me:
Hello,
my name is wayne i am currently a serving royal marine and i sold you the
usmc shirt, let me tell you the story behind it, last june approx 30 royal
marines including myself went on a exchange visit to america to bridgeport
california with the united states marine corp were we were to take part in a
mountain training package whilst over there we lived in the same
accomadation as TOW platoon 1 tanks usmc (basically its an anti tank unit).
we became quite good friends with the american marines and as you would
expect we did some kit swopping now they had only just got the digital cam
the week before so we were all desperate to get some and i managed to swop
shirts with corporal ben thompson (as the name tag on the shirt tells) he
was a big lad well set and strong he was in his early 30's and was a
rejoiner in the marines he was a marine before 9 / 11 and left a very good
job earning $100,000 + a year to rejoin to fight against terrorism, he was
married with a daughter and his father was in the air force and he told
stories of how he had lived at the us airforce base near norwich when he was
younger and he was a big rugby fan.
now you may wonder were i am going with this cpl ben thompson took part in
the fighting to liberate iraq and had been back again since the actual war,
he was due to leave the usmc again around september time but signed on for a
further term because his unit was going to iraq again and he said he was
worried about the young lads and the lack of experience so at the minute the
unit is in fallujhah in northern iraq, i found out this weekend from an
email from another us marine from TOW platoon that cpl ben thompson has been
killed whilst on patrol a massive IED (improvised explosive device) went off
next to him when he was stood next to his HUM V he died last week from his
injuries nearly a week after the explosion.
please don't feel sympathy for him he was n't that type of person even
though i only met him for a month you can tell these things with soldiers,
just do me a favour since you now own the shirt spare a small thought for
the man who owned it first and his family each time you use or wear it
you own the shirt of a fallen heroe he gave his live doing something he
truly believed in be proud to own the shirt and wear it with pride don't
hold back from wearing it because of this storie do what you was gonna do
anyway just remember were it came from
thankyou
wayne
****
I cried, when I read it, even though I was asked not to feel sympathy for him. I guess I don't - not for him but for his friends and family. It's awful to lose someone you care about - how must his little girl feel? His wife? His friends?
I offered to send the shirt back on compassionate grounds - it belonged to the seller's friend, after all, and he couldn't have anticipated this to happen the every week he sold it. He told me to keep it - said that he believes these things happen for a reason.
So I am. It needs narrowing down the back because Ben was a big guy and I just have a big bust to fill it with, but I'm going to wear it a lot - it's a very cool shirt.
Is still feel very sad, though. I was originally going to replace the Thompson name tape with one that said something else, but I can't, now. I'd feel like I was desecrating it a bit.
How strange for this to happen just when I'm reading Jarhead.
Recently, I bought a USMC Marpat shirt with the name 'Thompson' on the tapes.
Yesterday, I received this email from the guy who sold it to me:
Hello,
my name is wayne i am currently a serving royal marine and i sold you the
usmc shirt, let me tell you the story behind it, last june approx 30 royal
marines including myself went on a exchange visit to america to bridgeport
california with the united states marine corp were we were to take part in a
mountain training package whilst over there we lived in the same
accomadation as TOW platoon 1 tanks usmc (basically its an anti tank unit).
we became quite good friends with the american marines and as you would
expect we did some kit swopping now they had only just got the digital cam
the week before so we were all desperate to get some and i managed to swop
shirts with corporal ben thompson (as the name tag on the shirt tells) he
was a big lad well set and strong he was in his early 30's and was a
rejoiner in the marines he was a marine before 9 / 11 and left a very good
job earning $100,000 + a year to rejoin to fight against terrorism, he was
married with a daughter and his father was in the air force and he told
stories of how he had lived at the us airforce base near norwich when he was
younger and he was a big rugby fan.
now you may wonder were i am going with this cpl ben thompson took part in
the fighting to liberate iraq and had been back again since the actual war,
he was due to leave the usmc again around september time but signed on for a
further term because his unit was going to iraq again and he said he was
worried about the young lads and the lack of experience so at the minute the
unit is in fallujhah in northern iraq, i found out this weekend from an
email from another us marine from TOW platoon that cpl ben thompson has been
killed whilst on patrol a massive IED (improvised explosive device) went off
next to him when he was stood next to his HUM V he died last week from his
injuries nearly a week after the explosion.
please don't feel sympathy for him he was n't that type of person even
though i only met him for a month you can tell these things with soldiers,
just do me a favour since you now own the shirt spare a small thought for
the man who owned it first and his family each time you use or wear it
you own the shirt of a fallen heroe he gave his live doing something he
truly believed in be proud to own the shirt and wear it with pride don't
hold back from wearing it because of this storie do what you was gonna do
anyway just remember were it came from
thankyou
wayne
****
I cried, when I read it, even though I was asked not to feel sympathy for him. I guess I don't - not for him but for his friends and family. It's awful to lose someone you care about - how must his little girl feel? His wife? His friends?
I offered to send the shirt back on compassionate grounds - it belonged to the seller's friend, after all, and he couldn't have anticipated this to happen the every week he sold it. He told me to keep it - said that he believes these things happen for a reason.
So I am. It needs narrowing down the back because Ben was a big guy and I just have a big bust to fill it with, but I'm going to wear it a lot - it's a very cool shirt.
Is still feel very sad, though. I was originally going to replace the Thompson name tape with one that said something else, but I can't, now. I'd feel like I was desecrating it a bit.
How strange for this to happen just when I'm reading Jarhead.