Remembering a Marine

PERDIDO, Ala. - The death of a child is every parent's worst nightmare. For one Baldwin County family, that nightmare has come true twice in the last two years.

Pamela and Bruce Ferrell lost their oldest daughter to a car crash in December of 2006 and got word Monday morning that their 21-year-old son had been killed.
 

Bruce Ferrell Jr. joined the U. S. Marines in 2008 and was deployed to Afghanistan this May. He was on foot patrol with his squad Sunday, when a roadside bomb exploded, killing him. The news of his death was hard to swallow. His mother, Pamela, choked back tears as she talked about her son. "This is just too much for one human being to have to go through, but I'm very proud of my son being in the Marines. That's what he wanted to do. That's what he chose for his life."

Friends and family surrounded the Ferrells at the family home on Tuesday. Everyone talked about their memories of Bruce Jr. His father recalled when he was the most proud of his son. "He was a real good boy. I was real proud of him. He graduated high school and that was my biggest thing for him... to graduate," said his teary-eyed father.

For the Ferrells, the grieving process has just begun, but with the thoughts and prayers of the whole community and a network of family and friends, they know they'll pull through. "Oh, we got plenty of family and friends. A lot of his friends is the big thing. I don't know how many friends he's actually got because they're all the way from here to North Carolina," commented Ferrell.

Bruce Jr. graduated from Baldwin county High School in 2006, where school resumed this week. Hallways were teeming with the exciting sounds of student life. Outside, however, was a grim reminder that one former student was no longer with them. The flags in front of the school flew at half-mast today to honor Bruce Ferrell Jr. Those who remember him from childhood say that he never had an enemy. Mary Warfield knew Bruce from the time he was in kindergarten and she was his school counselor from 9th through 12th grade. She remembered his outgoing spirit. "Everybody liked Bruce because he got along with everybody. He didn't have any type of hard feelings against anybody else. He was the type of person who was everybody's friend because he never said anything negative about anybody," she recalled.

Bruce Ferrell Jr.'s remains are expected to be flown to Mobile within the week.