When service members deploy, families are left with the sobering thought that their loved ones may die in action. But one fallen soldier’s bond with another ensured that his family was not left with nothing.
Sgt. Dave Spicer deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 to become an explosive ordinance disposal technician. In July 2009, three days after his daughter’s first birthday, his pregnant wife, Kate, learned that her husband had been killed in action. Little did she know that Spicer had made a pact just ten days before with his best friend, fellow Marine Ken Wilson.
Wilson promised to take care of Spicer’s family if Spicer died, and that is just what he did. After sending Spicer’s body on a plane back to his family, Wilson married Kate and has helped raise the fallen Marine’s children ever since. “Ken is following through with everything Dave would have wanted,” Kate told IJ Review.
For Wilson, fulfilling his promise is not a burden. “It still comes back down to, you know, I gave that man my word,” Ken said. “Now, I get the pure joy of raising his kids.”
While nothing can completely fill the void left by Spicer’s death, for Wilson, carrying on his friend’s role as a husband and father is the greatest tribute he can make to his memory.
Emily Leayman is an intern at the Washington Examiner
