Covey_Rider
08-15-08, 06:19 PM
Good friend of mine passed away on Aug 10th. From what I know, and I'll get more information tomorrow...he was doing some house to house searches in Fallujah and was shot. If you guys could say a prayer for his wife and child to be...they were married just a month before he was killed and he has a child do in January.
Big Jim
08-15-08, 06:40 PM
May he rest in peace, brother....SEMPER FI...
yellowwing
08-15-08, 06:41 PM
God rest and keep Sgt. Michael Ferschke, and comfort his family. Amen
sgt tony
08-15-08, 07:31 PM
God has another Marine at the gates of heaven. We will miss him as will his family and our prayer go to them
OLE SARG
08-15-08, 08:04 PM
God bless Sgt. Michael Ferschke and his family. Will keep his family in our prayers.
SEMPER FI,
Semper Fidelis Marine
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/13/ri_native_killed_in_iraq_family_says/
Prayers are outbound for Sgt. Michael Ferschke and his family. R.I.P. Marine.
thedrifter
08-18-08, 02:36 PM
"Yesterday, in a nameless spot in the Iraqi desert..." <br />
Posted By Blackfive <br />
<br />
Via Corporal Seamus: <br />
<br />
US Marine Corps Major General John Kelley wrote the note below to the parents of Sgt Michael...
thedrifter
08-19-08, 06:17 AM
Marine honored with Purple Heart, respect and praise
By Robert Wilson
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
ALCOA - White doves and a Purple Heart marked Monday's funeral services for Sgt. Michael Harvey Ferschke Jr.
The Marine was killed in action Aug. 10 in Iraq.
The funeral of the 22-year-old Maryville man released an outpouring of respect usually reserved for heroes and patriots. Many say Ferschke was both.
An octagonal pavilion at the Tennessee Veterans Cemetery in Knoxville overflowed with people who had arrived in a lengthy procession from Alcoa, escorted by 28 law enforcement motorcycles and nearly that many ridden by members of the Patriot Guard, Rolling Thunder and various veteran support groups.
Sgt. Fershke's uncle, retired Air Force Master Sgt. Bob Lambert, told the solemn crowd at the pavilion that his nephew died doing something he didn't have to do.
He said Sgt. Ferschke felt his brothers were dying in Iraq, and he wanted to go and "do what he was trained to do. But God had a separate plan."
At the end of the service, 22 white doves were released into a brilliant August sky, one for each year of Sgt. Ferschke's life. Twenty-one fluttered away in a group, and the final one, symbolizing his spirit, was released by Sgt. Ferschke's mother, Robin K. Ferschke, and his widow, Hotaru, who is pregnant with the sergeant's baby.
Sgt. Ferschke's passing was marked by all the traditional military ritual, the 21-gun salute, the careful folding of the flag that covered the coffin, the slow salutes by the white-gloved hands of other Marines in their dress uniforms and the playing of taps, which contains the lines, "All is well, safely rest."
Also attending the cemetery ceremony was John A. Keys, commissioner of Tennessee's Department of Veterans Affairs in Nashville. He offered condolences on the family's loss on behalf of his agency and Gov. Phil Bredesen.
By all accounts, Sgt. Ferschke was focused on being a Marine for a sizable part of his 8,319 days of life. It was his stated aspiration since he was way too young to join, those who knew him say.
Father John O'Neill, who officiated at Sgt. Ferschke's funeral Mass at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Alcoa on Monday morning, said during the homily that Monday was "a very painful, very holy, very special day.
"This man came to do good. This moment of sadness is also one of hope and glory."
O'Neill said he had recently seen the ultrasound images of the child Sgt. Ferschke never got to hold, and O'Neill called it "a huge, huge sign of hope."
In a prayer, the priest asked God to receive Sgt. Ferschke's soul.
Also at the cemetery, Sgt. Ferschke was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded in battle. Sgt. Ferschke was felled by an enemy combatant's bullet as the sergeant helped conduct a house-to-house search in an undisclosed part of Iraq.
He had been married a month.
His death stirred an eruption of sympathy and respect from people in Blount County and by educators and fellow students who had known him at Maryville High School, where he graduated in 2003.
Sgt. Ferschke was laid to rest next to Robert L. Ogle, a Navy veteran of World War II and Korea who died in 2002 at age 77. At Sgt. Ferschke's feet is the grave of Army Spc. Jason Dane Hovater, who was killed last month in Afghanistan at age 24.
Ellie
RIP