'The Very Definition of Semper Fi'

Click on the hot-linked title (above) to see a LA Times story about this hero.

The below article is from the Annapolis Capitol.

'The Very Definition of Semper Fi'
By EARL KELLY, Staff Writer

>Seasoned Marine infantrymen wiped away tears this morning as they said
>goodbye to one of their own.

>More than 2,000 people filed into the Naval Academy Chapel for the
>funeral Mass of Marine Maj. Douglas A. Zembiec, a 1995 academy graduate
>who died in combat last week in Iraq.

>Maj. Zembiec, 34, of Winchester on the Severn, was known for his
>battlefield bravery.

>He was known to charge the enemy as shrapnel sliced into him, and he
>made no apologies for fighting for his country.

>His closest friend and former classmate, Eric L. Kapitulik, delivered
>the eulogy, reading from the diaries Maj. Zembiec kept for much of his
>adult life.

>Maj. Zembiec had planned to write a book on leadership when he retired
>from the Marine Corps.

>The diary included entries such as "I had rather live one day as a lion
>than 100 years as a dog," and "Be a man of principle. Believe in
>something bigger than yourself."

>Mr. Kapitulik told the crowd, "Last week, Doug sacrificed his life for
>his country ... but he did not sacrifice his spirit."

>He said his friend was devoted to his family, and always put them No. 1.
>"Wrestling was securely No. 2," he said of Maj. Zembiec, an All-American
>wrestler at the academy.

>Maj. Zembiec was a man's man, and Mr. Kapitulik joked that the only
>place he didn't have hair was on his head.

>He said he felt bad for those who never got to know Maj. Zembiec. "You
>missed the opportunity to know a legend," he said.

>The chaplain, Navy Capt. Pete McGeory, looked at the huge audience and
>said, "You are a band of brothers who truly care for your own."

>Maj. Zembiec, he said, was "a hero in every sense of the word" and
>represented "the very definition of Semper Fi." The Marine Corps motto
>means "always faithful" in Latin.

>But he urged mourners to remember Maj. Zembiec's legacy.

>"You can close your eyes and pray he will come back, or you can open
>your eyes and see all that he has left," he said.

>Retired Marine Corps Col. John W. Ripley of Annapolis read from the 23rd
>Psalm. In an interview before the funeral, he called Maj. Zembiec
>"absolutely magnetic."23rd Psalm.


>"He was a great inspiration, an absolute role model for every one of the
>Marines he served with," said Col. Ripley. "He would walk into a unit
>and literally stun every Marine. They would look at him and say, 'My
>goodness, we got this guy?' "

>Maj. Zembiec earned the Bronze Star with a V-device for Valor for his
>actions in Fallujah.

>His former academy classmates remember him as a hero and a friend.

>"It will eternally be among the richest things in life to continue to
>refer to him as a hero who, as the fate of such fortune would have it,
>was also the dearest friend," academy Class of 1995 President John Fleet
>said in a statement.

>He was born April 14, 1973, in Hawaii and reared in Albuquerque, N.M.
>His father was an FBI agent.

>During his time as a wrestler at the academy, Maj. Zembiec became known
>for his determination in the wrestling ring and his fondness for pranks.

>During his career, he commanded a rifle platoon, force reconnaissance
>platoon and a rifle company. Besides the Bronze Star, he was awarded a
>Purple Heart, a Navy Commendation with Gold Star, a Navy Achievement
>medal and other honors.

>The honor guard at Maj. Zembiec's funeral consisted of the men he led,
>Col. Ripley said.

>The major is the second local serviceman to die in Iraq this year. Seven
>local servicemen died in Iraq or Afghanistan last year. Nearly 3,400
>U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since 2003.

>Maj. Zembiec is survived by his wife; his daughter, Fallyn Justice
>Zembiec; his parents, Don and Jo Ann Zembiec of Albuquerque; and a
>brother, John Zembiec, also of Albuquerque.

>Burial at Arlington National Cemetery was planned to follow the funeral.

>The family has asked that memorial contributions be sent to the Maj.
>Douglas A. Zembiec Scholarship, MC-LEF c/o William Venezia, MC-LEF
>Office, 10 Rockefeller Plaza, Suite 1007, New York, NY 10020.