thedrifter
06-10-07, 06:44 AM
Marines' homecoming honors fallen friend
KHOU - Jun 09
By Doug Miller / 11 News
Everybody's happy they made it home. That's why everybody came to Alvin to see Ryan Bryson and Sam Chhuon, two high school friends back from Iraq.
"It was a surprise. I didn't expect anything like this at all,” said Chhuon.
"I'm overwhelmed. I'm surprised, too,” said Bryson.
Maybe it seems like enough just for old friends and neighbors to gather and offer thanks.
But it was not enough for the two Marines who came home.
They had one last mission.
Also on KHOU.com
Missouri City soldier killed in Iraq
Family, friends remember fallen Texas City soldier
So their friends and neighbors hit the road in a way, it is a road they've gone down before.
To when Christopher McCrackin died in Iraq a year and a half ago his twin brother, his wife and his daughter remembered him at the time.
But he had a lot of friends.
And a couple of them served in Iraq.
And that's why so many people thought just saying thank you to a couple of returning Marines was not enough.
So, they gathered at an Alvin cemetery Saturday. The day Christopher McCrackin would have a special visit from Ryan Bryson and Sam Chhuon.
High school friends of the Marine who lost his life.
And when the two buddies who survived the war raised a Marine flag over their friend's grave, it was enough to make a grown man cry.
"Just knowing, seeing that he's still remembered means the world to me,” said McCrackin’s mother Belinda. “We don't ever want to forget our son. Anybody who's lost a child wants to keep the memory alive one way or another."
Now all three of the high school friends are home again.
The two survivors will have their memories never to be forgotten.
Ellie
KHOU - Jun 09
By Doug Miller / 11 News
Everybody's happy they made it home. That's why everybody came to Alvin to see Ryan Bryson and Sam Chhuon, two high school friends back from Iraq.
"It was a surprise. I didn't expect anything like this at all,” said Chhuon.
"I'm overwhelmed. I'm surprised, too,” said Bryson.
Maybe it seems like enough just for old friends and neighbors to gather and offer thanks.
But it was not enough for the two Marines who came home.
They had one last mission.
Also on KHOU.com
Missouri City soldier killed in Iraq
Family, friends remember fallen Texas City soldier
So their friends and neighbors hit the road in a way, it is a road they've gone down before.
To when Christopher McCrackin died in Iraq a year and a half ago his twin brother, his wife and his daughter remembered him at the time.
But he had a lot of friends.
And a couple of them served in Iraq.
And that's why so many people thought just saying thank you to a couple of returning Marines was not enough.
So, they gathered at an Alvin cemetery Saturday. The day Christopher McCrackin would have a special visit from Ryan Bryson and Sam Chhuon.
High school friends of the Marine who lost his life.
And when the two buddies who survived the war raised a Marine flag over their friend's grave, it was enough to make a grown man cry.
"Just knowing, seeing that he's still remembered means the world to me,” said McCrackin’s mother Belinda. “We don't ever want to forget our son. Anybody who's lost a child wants to keep the memory alive one way or another."
Now all three of the high school friends are home again.
The two survivors will have their memories never to be forgotten.
Ellie