A day after the Marine’s celebrated their 240^th birthday, and on Veteran’s Day, the day we celebrate all those who have served in the US Armed Forces, it seems fitting to talk about Travis Manion and his best friend Brendan Looney.

Brothers Forever by Tom Sileo and Colonel Tom Manion, USMC (retired) tells the story of these two inspiring warriors.

Travis and Brendan first met at the Naval Academy.  Upon graduation, Travis elected to follow in his father’s footsteps and joined the Marines, Brendan joined the Navy and eventually became a SEAL.  Travis was deployed to Iraq where he was tasked with training Iraqi soldiers.  His family urged him to stay behind the scenes and let the Iraqis do the fighting but that wasn’t Travis’s style.  His brother-in-law even joked about injuring him so he wouldn’t have to deploy but Travis wanted to go.  He responded with, “if not me, then who?”  He knew there was a fight and his country/fellow comrades needed him.

Brothers Forever:

Even so close to going back to Iraq, Travis’s demeanor was calm.  He was doing exactly what he wanted with his life, and instead of complaining about spending the next twelve months in a war-ravaged city that could justifiably be labeled a hell hole, he felt fortunate for the chance to put all the hard work of the last eight years to good use.

Travis led from the front and had a reputation for being the first to run toward chaos.  He bravely trained and fought with the Iraqi soldiers, saving countless lives.  The Iraqis even nicknamed him “asad” Arabic for “lion.”  While deployed, Travis wrote a letter to his hometown newspaper The Intelligencer.  In his letter he wrote:

“I am not sure the average American sees the positives these servicemen and women accomplish or even understands the sacrifices of their efforts, however, whatever course of action our leadership decided upon, there are those in waiting ready to carry out the mission in support of our country and in defense of its people and their freedoms.”

Shortly after, Travis was killed in action.  On the mission that ended his life, Travis courageously offered to take the place of a teammate who didn’t want to go.  Travis died saving two downed marines, selflessly exposing himself to gunfire, and was ultimately hit by a sniper.

Devastated by the news, Brendan used Travis’s heroism as motivation to survive BUD/S and become a Navy SEAL.  He gave Travis’s mom, Janet, his hard earned Trident pin and told her “whenever things got rough, Travis was always there to keep me going.  I never stopped thinking about him.”

Recognizing tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed for anyone, Brendan decided he wanted to marry his girlfriend, Amy.  Within 48hrs of their wedding he would be deploying to the place Travis lost his life, Iraq.  He was there for approximately four months, home for a few months and then he deployed to Afghanistan for six months.  Before every mission Brendan made sure his wedding band was attached to his watch and that he was wearing his bracelet given to him, by Mrs. Manion, that read, “1ST LT. TRAVIS MANION, USMC SPARTAN, HERO, LEADER KIA IRAQI FREEDOM, 29 APR. ’07.  In his last few weeks of his deployment Brendan was killed in a helicopter crash.

Travis and Brendan were two heroes who loved their country, their families and courageously laid down their lives for what they deemed a higher purpose.  On Memorial Day in 2011, President Obama spoke about Travis and Brendan at Arlington National Cemetery:

“Heartbroken, yet filled with pride, the Manions and Looneys knew only [one] way to honor their sons’ friendship – they moved Travis from his cemetery in Pennsylvania and buried them side by side here at Arlington.  ‘Warriors for freedom’ reads the epitaph written by Travis’s father, ‘brothers forever.’”

We can honor their lives by the way in which we live.  As Brendan often said, “if you make the most of what you are doing, there is no way to regret what you are doing.”  Every day we can work to be the best partner, employee, parent, teacher etc. we can be.  No regrets.

Check out the Travis Manion Foundation created to honor his legacy.