Selfless Service and Uncommon Valor

On Sunday, March 30, 2003, on a CNN Live interview from the front line with Martin Savidge:

Martin Savidge of CNN, embedded with the 1st Marine Battalion, 1st Marine Division, was talking with 4 young Marines near his foxhole that morning live on CNN. He had been telling the story of how well the Marines looked out for and took care of him since the start of the war. He went on to tell about the many hardships the Marines endured and how they all looked after one another.

He turned to the four and said that their commanders cleared them to use his video phone to call home. None of these Marines had been able to talk with their families for many weeks. The 19-year-old Marine next to him asked Martin if he would allow his platoon sergeant to use his call to call his pregnant wife back home with whom he had not been able to talk to in over a month. A stunned Savidge, who was visibly moved by the request, nodded his head -- yes. The young Marine ran off to get the sergeant.

Savidge recovered after a few seconds and turned back to the three young Marines still sitting with him. He asked which one of them would like to call home first? The Marine closest to him responded without a moment's hesitation, "Sir, if it is all the same to you, we would like to call the parents of a buddy of ours -- Lance Cpl. Brian Buesing of Cedar Key, Florida, who was killed on the 23rd of March near Nasiriya. We would like to see how his folks are doing and let them know their son died bravely."

At that Martin Savidge totally broke down and was unable to speak. All he could get out before signing off was, "Where do they get young men like these?"