I was extremely moved after reading this Christopher Hitchens piece last night after hearing most of it on the Hugh Hewitt show earlier in the afternoon. It’s a story about an exceptional young hero, Lt. Mark Daily, of Irvine, California who was “directly influenced by Hitchens’ work” before enlisting in the military in 2003. Sadly, he was killed by an IED leading his men into battle in January 07.
I urge you all to take 5 minutes to read Hitchens piece. It will bring you to tears. Not tears of sorrow, but tears of admiration and respect, not only for Mark Daily, but his family as well. Here’s an excerpt from the beginning:
In a way, the story was almost too perfect: this handsome lad had been born on the Fourth of July, was a registered Democrat and self-described agnostic, a U.C.L.A. honors graduate, and during his college days had fairly decided reservations about the war in Iraq. I read on, and actually printed the story out, and was turning a page when I saw the following:
“Somewhere along the way, he changed his mind. His family says there was no epiphany. Writings by author and columnist Christopher Hitchens on the moral case for war deeply influenced him … ”
I don’t exaggerate by much when I say that I froze. I certainly felt a very deep pang of cold dismay.
I think about the brave men like Mark Daily are led to fight for the freedoms of people all around the world. Not only for the national security of the United States, but for all the oppressed people who desperately want our help, who desperately yearn for the strength of the United States to come and set them free. It’s young men like Mark Daily who understand the underlining importance of the defense of liberty and why it is a just cause.
From Mark’s “why I joined” statement shown on his myspace page:
Anyone who knew me before I joined knows that I am quite aware and at times sympathetic to the arguments against the war in Iraq. If you think the only way a person could bring themselves to volunteer for this war is through sheer desperation or blind obedience then consider me the exception (though there are countless like me).… Consider that there are 19 year old soldiers from the Midwest who have never touched a college campus or a protest who have done more to uphold the universal legitimacy of representative government and individual rights by placing themselves between Iraqi voting lines and homicidal religious fanatics.
I wish more stories like this would get out to the MSM. Sadly, every day, all we hear about is how many soldiers died today or what political indiscretions had been undertaken in the days news. We don’t hear about the stories of the brave men and women who have gone to fight for the cause of liberty, many of whom did not get the chance to come home and share their stories.
Mark died as the hero he was leading his men into battle. This from the Hitchens piece:
In his last handwritten letter home, posted on the last day of 2006, Mark modestly told his father that he’d been chosen to lead a combat platoon after a grenade attack had killed one of its soldiers and left its leader too shaken to carry on. He had apparently sounded steady enough on the radio on earlier missions for him to be given a leadership position after only a short time “in country.” As he put it: “I am now happily doing what I was trained to do, and am fulfilling an obligation that has swelled inside me for years. I am deep in my element … and I am euphoric.” He had no doubts at all about the value of his mission, and was the sort of natural soldier who makes the difference in any war.
Thank God we have people like Christopher Hitchens and Hugh Hewitt as well as all the Bloggers who picked up this story and have brought it to the mainstream. THESE are the kinds of stories Americans need to hear. These are the kinds of stories that can deeply affect ANYONE who’s willing to listen and have some clarity in their thinking.
Even this blogger has some personal implications into a story like this that I will not go into at this time. I may save it for another time when it’s appropriate to my audience and my family.
I believe the new media (blogs/talk radio) has a moral obligation to do what big media will not do: Share stories like Mark Daily’s and others alike, constantly, for the sake of the American psyche. Not because we want to advance war and advance freedom, but simply to create a sense of pride for those who are so willing to die for everything we hold dear to America. Freedom is not free, it never will be. It may be the greatest cause to ever fight for. To fight for your God given rights to live as free men is worth fighting for again and again, and if we are in the position to help others around the world, then why wouldn’t we?
Curt from Flopping Aces transcribed a poem for us from the Hugh Hewitt show.
On Hugh Hewitt’s show yesterday a caller called in with a poem written by LCPL Patrick Joseph Hannon who died in Vietnam on September 4th, 1966. I couldn’t find the poem on the web so I transcribed it here:
It is an inadequate feeling to have to kill
But when your country is in need you know you will
We’ve been in Vietnam for several months now
And we’re hardly ready to take our bow
We’ve seen some fellow Marines go down
But I’m sure each one is heaven bound
If my time here is to be
I ask a favor from you to me
Answer my one and only plea
Keep America free.
Others blogging about Mark Daily, the American hero:
- Hugh Hewitt – A Tribute to Lieutenant Mark Daily
- Ace of Spades – Christopher Hitchens reflects on his role in Lt. Mark Daily’s death in Iraq
- The Corner – “A Death in the Family”
- Sister Toldjah – Christopher Hitchen writes about an American Hero: Lt. Mark Daily
- Flopping Aces – The Heroes who fight
Related posts:
- Somalia: Islamist Fighters Destroy Daily Restaurants in the Ramadan
- Hugh Hewitt On Atlas
- Daily Kos attacks anti-Jihad blogosphere; Sides with Radical Islamists
- Audio: Mark Levin goes nuclear on O’reilly bailout rant
- Rare story from UK: Positive outlook on Iraq
- Mark Steyn: A loss for Civilization
- President Invites Talk Radio hosts to Oval Office
- Iraq: Incredible story of Heroism and Survival
- Daily Honor Killing: Pakistani hacks 60 year old sister to death
- US commander: Iran killing Americans in Iraq
