“Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death.”
Cpl Gurpreet Singh
Tonight we pay tribute to Cpl Gurpreet Singh, a 21 year old American. Cpl Singh lost his life on June 22, from wounds suffered while in combat in Helmand province in Afghnistan. A Marine, Cpl Singh was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, !st Marine Division, stationed on Camp Pendleton in California.
In April, the website DVIDS (Defense Video and Information Distribution System) posted an article about the 1st Battalion, in which Cpl Singh was quoted as saying:
“If you are a Marine and you aren’t patrolling, then you do post,”
Cpl Singh enlisted on Nov 5, 2007. He had served two combat tours of duty. During his service he had earned the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Medal, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal.
He will be cremated, as is Sikh tradition.
Sadly, I was unable to find more details about the man who Cpl Singh was. I know, without a doubt, he is missed by his family and friends, and by his brother and sister Marines. May we work to be worthy of his sacrifice.
With gratitude and respect,
For Dan,
Heather
I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to honor, respect and remind. Its title is a reminder that almost every day a military family gets the terrible news about a loved one. Diaries about the fallen usually appear two days after their names are officially released, which allows time for the IGTNT team to find and tell their stories.
All of the U.S. fatalities can be seen here and here. They all had loved ones, families and friends. The DoD news releases are here. I Got the News Today is intended to honor, respect and remind. Click the IGTNT tags below for previous diaries.
Click the IGTNT tags to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by monkeybiz, noweasels, blue jersey mom, twilight falling, joyful, roses, SisTwo, Spam Nunn, True Blue Majority, CalNM, Wide Awake in Kentucky, Maggie Jean, Jax Dem, Kestrel 9000, racheltracks, csas, Sandy on Signal, and me, Chacounne
Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members chronicled here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.