Kendall has started a blog in Eric's honor--if you haven't been there already, please visit--and if you have any good Eric stories/memories that might bless his family & friends, please email it to either of us and we will post it on the blog. I will probably continue posting Eric entries there as Heidi is getting concerned that there hasn't been a blog post about her in the last two weeks.
2 comments:
Summer, I tried to post a portion from an email I sent to your Mom about the first time I met Eric. For some reason, it wouldn't post. I think Kendall may have it, and perhaps she will post it.
Hope you are ok. I sent your parents a love letter about your whole family and the blessing I received while in Kentucky.
Love, Miss Sherri
My name is Craig Ziecina, I recently learned about Eric's passing while attempting to find friends of mine from my 4 year enlistment in the Marines. I am still shocked and knew Eric very well.
I knew Eric as a brother, and a fellow Marine. He was one of only a few I would follow to the end of the earth. Your family is in my prayers and thoughts, and words cant express the way I feel for your loss. Eric was a very special person whom I considered a brother in the 3 short years I knew him.
I served with Eric from 95-97 in Camp Lejeune while attached to 1/6 Sta Platoon. Eric Terhune, Matt Vespie, Eric Williams, and I were the "new guys" in the sniper platoon. I have several funny stories about Eric since we spent alot of time together in North Carolina, and our deployment to Okinawa, Korea, and Australia.
One I would like to share takes me back to 1996, in Camp Lejeune North Carolina. Eric and I were part of a 3 man recon team led by our Team Leader, Scott Guise. We were conducting a recon patrol and given orders to "hump" an amazing distance in a very little time.
After completing the hump in the middle of the night, while feeding the mosquito's we finally got to our "area of operation". Tired, sweaty, and trying to take a breather, Cpl Scott Guise told Eric and I to "get comm up". Scott was our instructor in many classes and wanted us to quietly and tactically set up a field expedient antenna to allow us to use our radio.
Eric and I quietly snuck deeper into the swamp and found a suitable tree to set up our "long wire" antenna. This process is done by tying a piece of "550 cord" to a heavy object, tossing the object over a high limb, then allowing it to swing over the branch and finally being lowered to ground level. Once at ground level you take the heavy object off the cord, then tie your communications wire to the cord and pull the opposite end, lifting the wire high into the air. This would allow us to have communications with the Sgt's in the rear. Most every time we used our radios in the bush this process would have to be completed to allow the radio the range we needed to communicate.
Now back to the story..... So Eric and I snuck out into the darkenss, found a tall tree, and Eric handed me one of his water filled canteens to toss over a branch. Eric always had the best tactical gear and as I recall, he had purchased "his own" black canteens from a surplus store in town. I was married, on a fixed income and very jealous of all the cool gear he had, but just as you know Eric, he gave me one of his personal canteens to toss instead of my 20 year old issued ones.
So...I reared back and gave it my best baseball throw up toward a large branch over head. We both waited for the cord to tighten as the canteen passed through the moon lit sky. We looked like two kids as we watched the canteen disappear into the darkness. Then we heard what sounded like a boulder beind dropped into the water off a cliff... we realized we forgot to tie the cord onto the canteen and it was now out in the middle of the swamp and would never be found.
Eric and I laughed like kids in a grade school class not wanting to get in trouble as I handed him one of my issued canteens. He "acted" like he tied the cord on my canteen and threw the issued piece of gear twice as high and twice as far as I did...again I held the cord and it never got tight. I immediately realized I just got paid back for my first mistake, and Eric and I laughed even harder. We sat in the middle of that snake filled swamp getting eaten by bugs and laughed harder than I ever laughed before. It was probably 2 minutes before we could catch our breath before Cpl Guise came to our position and quietly scolded us for our excessive noise and laughter.
Eric and I laughed about that for the next few years and I thought about that one incident every time I set up a field expedient antenna or handled a canteen since.
That is one of many stories I hold in my heart of times I spent with the amazing people I was privelaged enough to serve with. Eric and I were brothers many years ago, but its hard not to shed a tear when I think about him.
I miss you Eric and my prayers are with your family. Semper Fi brother and I will be see you again someday....Semper Fi
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