One year ago today, Pvt. David Lane of Emporia was killed on patrol outside Rustamiyah, Iraq. Do not forget him.
When they gathered by candlelight four days after his death, his family, his friends and fellow Emporians promised not to forget him. It is certain that his family and friends won’t forget.
But for the rest of us, such promises, heartfelt as they may be, can be harder to keep. Remembering the life and death of someone whose voice you never heard and whose living face you never beheld is not easy.
But the obligation for Emporians to remember David Lane remains. He was one of us and he volunteered to serve. He was sent to our war and he died there. We owe him.
But let’s do him the honor of remembering him not as a marble statue or a bronze plaque, but as a living person.
His friends called him “Goofy Dave.” Looking at the photo below, it is easy to see why. He was dressed for battle but grinning like Ralphie in “A Christmas Story.”
He loved to drive his pickup in the mud, taking it to the last slippery edge of its traction.
Those things are easier to remember than a formal portrait and a calendar date.
The face in this photo is one you can’t forget.
Keep remembering.
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