Martin Savidge of CNN, embedded with the 1st Marine battalion, was
talking with 4 young Marines near his foxhole this morning live on CNN.
He had been telling the story of how well the Marines had been looking
out for and taking care of him since the war started. He went on to tell
about the many hardships the Marines had endured since the war began and
how they all look after one another.
He turned to the four and said he had cleared it with their commanders
and they could use his video phone to call home.
The 19 year old Marine next to him asked Martin if he would allow his
platoon sergeant to use his call to call his pregnant wife back home
whom he had not been able to talk to in three months. A stunned Savidge
who was visibly moved by the request shook his head and the young Marine
ran off to get the sergeant.
Savidge recovered after a few seconds and turned back to the three
young Marines still sitting with him and asked which one of them would
like to call home first, the Marine closest to him responded with out a
moments hesitation "Sir, if is all the same to you we would like to call
the parents of a buddy of ours, Lance Cpl Brian Buesing of Cedar Key,
Florida who was killed on 3-23-03 near Nasiriya to see how they are
doing."
At that Martin Savidge totally broke down and was unable to speak. All
he could get out before signing off was "Where do they get young men
like this?"
