I met the Lost Marine of Tucson in late 2011. He was homeless and I was at a rally in downtown and he saw
my Maine sweatshirt and we got to talking. He was from near where I grew up and he and his dad had
worked for the town I grew up in. His father had known my cousin for thirty years plus.
He told me what the Marine Corps had done to him after two tours in Iraq and I was angry as I had seen that
institution talk big and attack men for doing their job to cover their own short comings.
In 1991 after Desert Storm I was in our company maintenance bay when a group of Navy Chaplains were
touring the outside tank ramp, the place where we parked our vehicles, when this one Marine runs outside.
He yells there is no God and runs back inside to hide. They bay had five or so men start to laugh minus me
and one other.
The next day I took the senior nco that was present and told him the Corps was a group of cowards for
insulting those chaplains and their profession of faith. He did nothing.
I am a lifetime member of the Marine Corps League and the Marine Corps Tankers Association and I try to
help guys I think the Marine Corps pulled a little boy move on.
The Lost Marine Of Tucson was one in my opinion.
The Lost Marine explained to me what happened and I asked him his religious beliefs. He informed he was a
Catholic and I told him I do not convert people or try to convince them of faith as that was their business.
I gave him nice cross, a copy of the apocrapyhl books of the Bible and wrote a letter for his prayer to my old
National Guard Chaplain back in Lynn, Massachusetts as he was a Catholic Priest.
The Occupy Tucson group moved around I eventually lost touch with him and had the paperwork from the
Senator John Kyl's office mailed to Brother Dave the Catholic Priest of the Tucson Diocese. that kept an eye
on their spiritual needs.
I have no idea what happened to the Lost Marine but I hope he fixed the mess he and the Marine Corps both
created.