Camp Pendleton Marines Homestyle Thanksgiving With Seniors

Marines find a home for the holiday at Murrieta senior community
The Press Enterprise
Shane Newell
November 23, 2017

“It’s a marvelous feeling you have to have them here,” said Sharon Boll, the Murrieta resident who organized this year’s event. “It’s the first time they’ve been away from home on a holiday like that.”

US Marine Pfc. Ryan Nguyen, 18, from St. Louis Missouri digs into the turkey during Thanksgiving dinner at Murrieta resident Sharon Boll home, Boll hosted three Marines and 27 neighbors at her home for Thanksgiving in Murrieta Thursday, November 23, 2017. FRANK BELLINO, THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/SCNG

They may not have spent the holiday at home, but 55 Camp Pendleton Marines got all the comforts of a homemade feast on Thanksgiving in Murrieta.
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After WWII Love Lasted Two Lifetimes

WWII Veteran Couple Married for Seven Decades Dies on the Same Day 
PEOPLE 
Jason Duaine Hahn 
November 22, 2017

Two lovebirds who married each other after serving in World War II passed away within hours of each other last month, after sharing one last nap together just days before.

Isabell Whitney and Preble Staver put their love story on hold when the United States entered World War II. The two sweethearts met during a blind date in Philadelphia before they signed up to help the Allies in their efforts—Isabell as a nurse in the Navy stationed in Maryland and Preble as a Marine, who earned a Bronze Star during his tenure. Five months after the war concluded, Isabell and Preble reunited and married on February 15, 1946, the beginning of a more than 70-year-long union.

“They were great people. Mom really taught me that you can’t change another person but you can change your attitude towards them. Dad was a bit of a prickly pear!” Laurie Staver Clinton, 62, one of the couple’s five children, tells PEOPLE. “Dad was the strict one. Mom tried to be strict, but we knew what we could get away with her. It was pretty much a father rules the roost sort of thing.”
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Disabled Navy Veteran Left to Die by Hit and Run Driver

Navy veteran struck, killed in hit-and-run along East Hammer Lane

Recordnet.com

Joe Goldeen

November 22, 2017

STOCKTON — A 58-year-old disabled Navy veteran was struck and killed Tuesday evening on East Hammer Lane by a motorist who fled the scene without stopping, police and a family member reported.

The man was riding a bicycle and crossing Hammer southbound at Lan Ark Drive about 6:15 p.m. when he was hit by a black vehicle that sped away to the east, according to police. A surveillance photo has been released showing the car that authorities believe is responsible.

Medics were called to the scene and pronounced the victim deceased.

Tina Thayer, who described herself as the victim’s best friend and former common-law wife, identified him as David Allen Wright, a Stockton resident who spent most of his life in Manteca with roots in Indianapolis.

“That’s just who he was. He was a great man who helped everybody. He loved God. He was a Christian man,” Thayer said.

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After Losing Limbs, Veteran Got Life Back

After he lost his limbs, Dave Riley found a new purpose for his life

AL.com
Michelle Matthews
November 23, 2017 

"It was my missing ingredient," he says. The DAV "exposed me to adrenaline again," and gave him his life back.

Dave Riley

Dave Riley works on a stack of walnut boxes in the 

workshop behind his house in Semmes, Ala. 

(Facebook photo) 

Every morning, Yvonne Riley helps Dave, her husband of 30 years, get himself together. Literally.

Before they leave the bedroom of their home in Semmes, Yvonne helps him brush his teeth, she shaves his face and she helps him put on his prosthetic arms and legs and get dressed. By now, she has the process down pat. She's been doing this for the past 20 years.

In 1997, Dave and Yvonne had taken their family - they have two daughters and a son - on a rare vacation to Dauphin Island. Dave remembers opening the door to their camper after they arrived. He felt the wind blowing on his face, and he felt something else, he says: "an impending feeling of doom."

By the time he woke up the next morning, his body was going into septic shock. A tall, strong Coast Guard rescue swimmer and emergency medical technician, Dave had contracted a bacterial infection that was trying to kill him. One of the doctors treating him told Yvonne he wasn't going to make it.

He spent the next 30 days in a medically induced coma, with Yvonne making all his medical decisions for him - including the amputation both of his arms below the elbows and his legs below the knee. He was hospitalized for two more months.

He sold his woodworking tools. He got rid of his boat and his trailer. "I didn't think I'd need them anymore," he says.
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Sgt. La David Johnson's Family Got News Reports on Remains?

Lawmaker: Family Learned of Soldier's Remains from News Reports
Military.com
by Richard Sisk
22 Nov 2017

A Florida congresswoman charged Tuesday that the family of Sgt. La David Johnson learned from news reports that more of his remains had been found in Niger.

U.S. Army Sergeant La David Johnson, who was among four special forces soldiers killed in Niger. (U.S. Army photo)

A U.S. official told ABC News that the family had been notified, but Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Florida, said, "It is a shame for any Gold Star Family to go through the pain and agony of learning about their son's last moments on TV."

Wilson, a close Johnson family friend who was a mentor to the soldier, told reporters, "He left a Gold Star Family and to learn about his final moments on TV and in the newspaper is a shame for this nation," NBC News reported.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford told reporters last month that his "first priority" was to make sure any information on the Oct. 4 ambush in which Johnson and three other soldiers were killed would go to the families before it was made public.
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