Marine Veteran Spreads Buddy's Ashes From Pringles Can At Zoo

Marine Corps veteran completes final mission in memory of best friend 
UpperMichigansSource.com
by Rebecca Himmelstein
Posted: 06.13.2015

Mark asked Richard in his suicide note to spread his ashes in the hippo habitat.

A former scout sniper completed his final mission: saying goodbye to his best friend on Saturday

“I am leaving my best friend here today” said Richard. “It is another close to my life and it is another chapter ending, but Marines are all about mission accomplishment and my mission is done today.”

WALLACE -- Richard is a United States Marine Corps veteran. On Saturday, the former scout sniper completed his final mission: saying goodbye to his best friend Mark.

“Mark was my spotter” said Richard. “He was my best friend. Wherever I went in the Marine Corps, he followed.”

But it was not war that took Mark’s life. It didn’t happen in Fallujah where they were deployed, but in Tennessee where Mark lived with his wife.

“Two months ago I got a phone call that Mark committed suicide” said Richard. “He gave into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He was too stupid to ask for help. It might be a hard thing to say, but I can say it because I suffer with P.T.S.D.”

Richard is leaving some of Mark’s ashes at the DeYoung Family Zoo in Wallace; a place that has special meaning to the Marines.

“Today is the first time Mark and I have come here and unfortunately he is in a Pringles can” said Richard.
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