In Honor and Memory of SPC David A. Campbell, Jr., 29 years old

David, to most of his family, "Lil Dave" to his friends, "Campbell", entered into this world on December 4, 1979 and departed our lives as one of the Lord's own soldiers tragically on August 26, 2009. It is extremely painful and feels me with an unbearable amount of pain similar I would imagine to someone ripping your very heart out and burying it 20 feet in the ground. I have never and hope to never feel this amount of loss, pain and sorrow ever again.. No, we are not supposed to bury our children and yet in my own family we have buried three of our sons, Stephen Matthew, Robert Diego and Dave. I ask myself every day, why, why my son and why now? The answer to this question is unknown to me, however, I know it was and is the Lords will. He needed and wanted him safe in his eternal glory and I have to believe and continue to believe in his plan for my son and for all of us that he has left behind. Did I take my son for granted and always believe what he said as he got older, "don't worry I will take care of you and my Dad when you get older", yes I never thought he would be gone from my life. There was no last goodbye, no more opportunities to tell him how much I loved him, no more time together. Now there is only heartache and trillions of tears that never seem to stop flowing. We spoke earlier that day several times, but I missed two of his calls one at 5:08 pm and his last call at 9:08 pm. He was on his way to see a friend he hadn't seen since before he went into the service in 2002; he died at 9:26 that evening. He was overly protective of me and his family, he couldn't stand it if guys tried to talk to me even if they were friends. Always watching and letting others know that he was my son; he was my protector and I thought he would always be here to watch and protect. My brother, Bill, says he now has night watch. "I will be the one putting you both in a nursing home", is what he would say and I have to laugh, because I would tell him and his brother Vinny, yes, you'll get tired of me and you'll push me and my wheelchair down the stairs. They would both laugh look at each other with silly grins and answer in unison, "yup". How I wish he was here. I miss hearing his voice, his laughter, his smile, his love and even his dirty socks and underwear. I would give anything to have him back in my life. Dave as his brother, Thierry, says always lit up a room, he never held a grudge and even if he was hurt or upset with you he always forgave you and moved on. He was as most boys were at times during their teenage years a little rambunctious and could get angry and let you know how he felt, but still it never lasted and I think all of us can attest to that. He played began playing football when he was six and continued until the age of fifteen, asking for a break in sports his Dad and I agreed to give him the season off and we regretted it later as he never returned to the game. He sat on the bench for a time, his Dad was an assistant coach and was as most fathers pretty demanding of his son, but once he came off the bench he never went back. Darryl Green was his favorite player when he was young and as got older he would tease us about our Redskins, chosing another team just to get us excited during the losing days...believe me ask any Redskins fan, especially today, we've had some pretty pitiful years. Playing safety, running back and on special teams Dave's name on the announcements would bring all of us to our feet (we really were on them quite alot) yelling, screaming until our throats hurt; he brought us so much pride and joy. I don't recall a time when his Aunt Barbara, Uncle Danny and his cousins ever missed a game; Granddad would be there when he could, his Nana, Papa and other family members would make it at times too. Dave competed in basketball, softball, wrestling and even took on Tae Chi for a couple of years. He was very competitive and kept busy in sports for many years.

When he was young he suffered the normal colds, coughs, chicken pox, and had quite a few nose bleeds due in part to his allergies. I'll never forget his explanation of how he felt back when he was a little boy, "my tummy is dizzy", meaning he felt nauseated and soon the glands in his throat would swell. That was the indication I needed to keep him home from school. He had the most beautiful blue eyes that seemed to glow when he was excited about something. Dave was full of life and shared it with all his family and friends; he leaves behind two nephews and one niece, more than thirty cousins, about the same if not more in Aunts and Uncles, several sets of grandparents and two very heartbroken brothers. Believe me when I say he had his share of brother and cousin rivalry. I am often reminded of how when his brother(s), and you know who I am talking about picked on him, Dave would turn around and pick on a cousin, and I think some of my family members knows who I am speaking of. Yes, Joe, and no I won't give your nickname here. Joe, Robert and Ang were close in age and for whatever reason, Dave and Joe spent some real cousin quality time together when they were all together. Joe also joined the Armed Forces and served our country in the USMC, was deployed to Afghanistan. He was one of the very first Marines to open up the US Embassy that had been closed for over ten years. The brothers threw out nicknames for each other on a daily basis as they played or just joked around and teased each other. They built forts, (some tools were never returned) ran and biked through the woods, fished in the creek, skateboarded, played basketball, video games and ate and ate and ate; along with all the neighborhood kids. I don't think they ever had a boring time together. We had snow, mud and everything including a ground hog that they were hiding as they tried to bring him back to life out in their fort. I remember coming home to a yard of bloody cotton balls, discarded socks, bandages, tissues and everything else several young boys could find in a medicine chest only to be told that they didn't know where it had all come from. As we questioned and checked each body to make sure no one was hurt the glances towards each other told a different story. It took a couple of days until we learned the truth. They were on a rescue mission. Even though one of Rocky's catches was really not coming back to life, Vinny just would not let the others get rid of the animal that he felt would live. We went camping, tracked bears, gathered wood for fire, caught fish with our bare hands, walked across the highest suspended bridge in the US, hiked the Grand Canyon, visited Pike's Peak, traveled phantom canyon, indian reservations and had pork and beans blow up in and outside of the can only to become embedded in one particular boys face...boy he was truly angry with all the laughter coming from his older brothers! We had our share of guinea pigs that seemed to multiply daily. Dave's biggest loves of animals was for our dogs, Rocky, Blitz, Champ, Rex, Taz, Timber, Lil' Tim and before he passed, Rex.

We had alot of dogs and at one time 11 puppies. Dave was only 9 years old when Kassie delivered. She gave birth to 8 of them one afternoon and evening and the next day Dave called me at work. He said, I think Kassie is having more puppies and I had him stay on the phone with me while another puppy came out. He was scared and told me that the puppy came out and when I asked if she was licking the sack off, he replied, no. The puppy was laying there still in his sack and he was scared as I instructed him to remove the sack. He couldn't bring himself to touch the newborn pup and as my co-workers listened to our discussion we all became afraid and desperate as were afraid the pup would not survive. I explained to Dave that the pup would die if he didn't help and finally encouraged him to remove the sack. Dave followed through, saved the pup and another came, then another. I was so very proud of him that day and felt awful that he had to go through that, but by the time he removed the last pup's sack he was a pro and no longer afraid. My brother and sister-in-law ended up with one of the last three, the largest in the litter and all because of Dave.

THIS MEMORIAL IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION