To read the tribute to SFC Marcus Muralles, please click here
Thursday, December 14, 2006
What More In The Name of Love
Even before the thick dust had settled, the Marines, and Walsh, were out of the vehicle, looking for the insurgents who had planted the remote-control device. The triggerman, as several who joined the pursuit vividly recall, was spotted first on a rooftop, then on the ground making his escape through the maze of ramshackle houses that line the road.The baby, Miriam, was born with bladder exstrophy, where the bladder develops outside the body. She didn't stand a chance without surgery. And Navy medic Chris Walsh wanted to make sure she got that surgery.
When Walsh and the Marines came to one doorway, M-4 rifles up and ready, a woman emerged from a room, holding an infant and saying, over and over again, “Baby. Baby sick.”
Walsh put his gun down and the woman put the baby down.
But Walsh meant it. Saving Baby Mariam became his mission. At chow one night, he stood up and explained to the Marines in his platoon what he wanted to do. He said he'd need help. And one by one, the Marines put up their hands.And when Walsh and two others from his platoon were killed by an IED, the battalion decided to honor him by saving Miriam. They pulled strings, made phone calls, sent e-mails, and finally, it happened. The red tape fell away, and Miriam was allowed to come to the US for surgery.
Mariam's grandfather took Maureen Walsh's hand in his and, speaking in Arabic, said, “Thank you for your son.”
Mariam's family does not believe it was coincidence that Chris Walsh was the one who came into their house in hot pursuit of someone who had tried to kill him and instead put down his gun and picked up Mariam.
“This,” her grandfather said, nodding solemnly, “was an act of God. God sent Chris. To Mariam. So she will live.”
Maureen Walsh shares that assessment.
“There were too many coincidences for it to be coincidence,” she said. “Chris was waiting his whole life for something like this.”
People like Chris Walsh are the reason that we will, in the end, win this war on terror. One person at a time, hearts will turn to embrace true humanity.
