'Every Marine Is A Brother Or Sister'

When you read as many of these stories as I do, there comes an article that shows when reporters care about what they are writing about, it pulls you in. This is one of them. Karen Wall wrote something beyond a story. She captured lives few others get to know. Reporters like her have kept me from being jaded after all these years.

'Every Marine Is A Brother Or Sister'
Marine assigned to escort Cpl. Christopher Monahan to New Jersey watches over his family like it's her own
By Karen Wall

As the two Marines walked soundlessly, single file, to the front of the room, a hush fell over those gathered. Heel to toe, heel to toe, without so much as a creak of a glistening shoe.

Only the ticking of a clock broke the silence.

At the front of the room, they paused, then turned to face the casket where Cpl. Christopher M. Monahan Jr. was lying in his dress uniform, and slowly saluted him, then turned and went in opposite directions to face the two Marines standing guard over Monahan's body. The four men simultaneously saluted each other, then with an efficiency of movement, the new guards replaced the old.

Nearby, US Marine Staff Sgt. Pamela Torres stood by, keeping an eye on the proceedings. It is her responsibility to ensure Monahan's final return is as uneventful as possible. It is a duty she takes very seriously.

"Every Marine anywhere is a brother or a sister. They are family," Torres said, as she paused for a few minutes to talk during the viewing for Monahan, held Wednesday at Anderson & Campbell Funeral Home in Toms River. "I always think about it as if it were my mother."

Monahan, 25, was killed on Nov. 26 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when the truck he was riding in struck an improvised explosive device, according to the Department of Defense.
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