In remembrance

Cpl. Paul N. King, 23, of Tyngsboro, Mass., was killed June 25th, 2006 in Fallujah, Iraq. He and his platoon, from 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, were providing perimeter security and cordon for 1st Platoon, Hotel Company, 3/14, after one of our 7-ton trucks was hit by an IED right in the center of Fallujah, just a few blocks away from the Iraqi Police station. The truck had frame damage and two tires blown, so we had to stop and make just enough repairs to make it to the relative security of the police station, where we could fix it enough to make it adequately drivable.

Cpl. King, providing our perimeter, was shot by a sniper known around Fallujah for his marksmanship and elusiveness. The sniper, probably using a high-power rifle leftover from other conflicts and himself probably a mercenary veteran of other radical-Islamic conflicts around the world such as Chechnya or Afghanistan, was able to shoot Cpl. King while moving under the armpit, in an extremely small area unprotected by body armor. Cpl. King was immediately evacuated to Fallujah Surgical, and we heard later that night upon our return to Camp Fallujah that he had died of his wounds.

I never knew Cpl. King, never met him and I knew nobody from his company or 1/25 in general. Yet I will never forget his name, because when we were under attack in the hottest part of Fallujah and in the middle of a cross-compartment danger zone, he and his fellow Marines came out of cover to make sure no hidden insurgents took advantage of our convoy's incapacitation. He came out with no notice to ensure that we were safe, and in doing so, he was killed by a coward unwilling to fight us in the open.

Cpl. King is just one of countless Marines who have had the courage to forgo their own safety to ensure the safety of others, and put everything they had on the line in the service of a higher cause. Cpl. King and others like him are, for me, the number one reason we must see this fight through. The price we have paid is too high for us to submit to the divisive politicking or our own self-doubt. He did not doubt the righteousness of our cause, or our resolve to ensure the security of our Iraqi friends, or much more importantly, ourselves. God bless him and his family.