Army Spc. Donald Morrison
March 31, 2024
Marine LCPL Andrew Nowacki
April 14, 2024
Legacy.com
Sgt. Murray was a fairly quiet Marine. Didn’t engage in the silly “sewing-circle” politics or frat-boy shenanigans that inevitably arise in the World’s Biggest Boy’s Club.
He had a wonderful, pessimistic sense of humor that I immediately took a liking to; once I could get it out of him. Once you got the man to start talking, you got a sense of his deep passion for all things martial: Topics from hunting to ambushes to proposed improvements in Marine Corps Machine Gunnery Doctrine were discussed (and debated) at length. Nearly all conversations away from home ended with discussion or reference to his family.
I was a bit of a “Scalawag” when I served with Jeremy. I had a penchant for scrounging while deployed to foreign countries; anything from fresh bread in Kosovo, to Gin in Djibouti, to nasty copper-still vodka from our Eastern European allies. Sgt. Murray was a stand-up guy, but a pragmatist: He was one of many NCOs that knew what I was up to, but pretended not to. As long as nothing got out of hand and warm bread got shared with cold Marines on a miserable, rainy hilltop, huddled around burning pallets in Godforsaken countries.
It still did not stop him from bestowing the occasional disapproving head-shake and tactful advice to watch my six. 😉
Tomorrow is Memorial Day. I have visited his guest book several times, and could never find the words to express what I really wanted to say. I have thought about him often, and as I raise my own two sons, I think about Megan and Ian, the family he left behind.
Sgt. Jeremy E. Murray: There is no higher compliment that befits a warrior than this: You were a Professional.I’ll see you on Heaven’s Streets, brother. ~ Conner, Prescott, Arizona
