Semper Fi

San Antonio buried another son yesterday.

Staff Sgt. Gene Ramirez, USMC, died in Iraq on November 10, in the arms of his best friend. He was 28; a huge Texas Longhorns fan; and, by all accounts, the truest friend anyone could have.

This was Sgt. Ramirez' second tour of duty in Operation Shrub's Manhood. When he was home in September, his mother asked him not to go back.

He said he had to. It was his duty. He was a Marine.

And now his mother holds, not her son, but the folded flag from his coffin.
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The words of the prophet Jeremiah:
Oh, that my head were a stream of water,
My eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
Over the slain of the daughter of my people.