Your end of our little deal finally caught up June 29th. First off, WAY overboard my friend. I send you a couple sticks and you try to level and entire Afghan provence.
Let me tell you something else about the box you sent. When it arrived I was running a little short on storage space so I decided to share some of the sticks with the other NCO's with the group I was working with, guys from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 81mm Mortar Platoon. We all had our sticks picked out and were saving them for the 4th of July. Cpl. Larry Harris had pick out the CAO Cameroon. On July 1st, Cpl Harris was leading his squad on patrol when one of his Marines was shot in leg. After a pretty intense volley of fire, Larry ordered his men to move to some buildings for cover. He put his injured Marine on his back and carried him the 150 meters through an open field to cover. Waiting for them along the building was IED. Cpl. Harris took the brunt of the blast to his legs and torso. Two other Marines and a Navy Corpsman were also wounded in the strike. Extremely heavy enemy fire was delaying the MEDEVAC bird from landing. Lance Corporals Carry and Henry (the Marine who was shot earlier in the day) and the Corpsman, Doc Gould, all made it onto the bird with some assistance in pretty rough shape. Cpl. Harris, sadly, did not make it.
We lost a good Marine, a great friend, and one of the finest men I've ever worked with that day. The world would truly be a better place with more guys like him running around.
The rest of us enjoyed our cigars on 4th just like we planned. I'm saving the Cameroon for next July 1st, if I can even smoke it then. It may just sit in my humidor as a constant reminder of a friend not coming home.
Again I'd like to thank you, for unknowing helping a group a guys you'll probably never meet, through one of the hardest days of our lives.
