Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant Dale F. Racicot
June 30, 1949 - August 9, 2003
Operation Iraqi Freedom
1st Marine Expeditionary Force
MCB Camp Pendleton, CA
54, of Weare, NH; died of natural causes hours after returning home from deployment
Operation Iraqi Freedom
1st Marine Expeditionary Force
MCB Camp Pendleton, CA
54, of Weare, NH; died of natural causes hours after returning home from deployment
Dale joined the United States Marine Corps in 1969 serving on active duty until 1975. He served with the Marine Corps Reserves from 1975 until he was called to active duty with 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in January 2003. He had been deployed to Kuwait and Iraq where he led a six-member intelligence unit attached to the First Marine Expeditionary Force, which interrogated Iraqi prisoners of war, compiled information, and briefed commanders in the field.
After eight months in Kuwait and Iraq, Dale just wanted to come home and see his wife and two daughters.
Giddy with excitement, the family headed for the airport in Dale’s cherished “Marine Corps green” truck to pick him up and start what his daughter, Keri, called “a reunion of a lifetime.”
Despite their brief reunion, Dale, his wife Janet and daughters Keri and Stacey, shared a lot in three hours. They hugged and cried and held hands. Dale shared photos, gave them gifts he had picked up from overseas, and told them stories about the war.
At about 2:30 a.m., after three hours of talking, Dale suggested everybody go to bed since they had the whole weekend to get caught up.
Janet was getting ready for bed when she heard a thump and saw her husband collapsed on the floor. “I came running over to him and I knew something serious was going on,” she said. “He looked at me and said, ‘I love you all,’ and that was the last thing he said.” Dale Racicot died of a heart attack at the age of 54.
Sadly, his active duty was to officially end that week, after he reported to his unit's headquarters in Worcester.
"He was my best friend in the whole world," said his wife. "I married the kind of man most women dream of marrying. I got to have the real thing.”
After eight months in Kuwait and Iraq, Dale just wanted to come home and see his wife and two daughters.
Giddy with excitement, the family headed for the airport in Dale’s cherished “Marine Corps green” truck to pick him up and start what his daughter, Keri, called “a reunion of a lifetime.”
Despite their brief reunion, Dale, his wife Janet and daughters Keri and Stacey, shared a lot in three hours. They hugged and cried and held hands. Dale shared photos, gave them gifts he had picked up from overseas, and told them stories about the war.
At about 2:30 a.m., after three hours of talking, Dale suggested everybody go to bed since they had the whole weekend to get caught up.
Janet was getting ready for bed when she heard a thump and saw her husband collapsed on the floor. “I came running over to him and I knew something serious was going on,” she said. “He looked at me and said, ‘I love you all,’ and that was the last thing he said.” Dale Racicot died of a heart attack at the age of 54.
Sadly, his active duty was to officially end that week, after he reported to his unit's headquarters in Worcester.
"He was my best friend in the whole world," said his wife. "I married the kind of man most women dream of marrying. I got to have the real thing.”
|
|
|
|
