They Did Their Duty. Memorial Day 2024

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Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jocko Willink?

  Colonel David Hackworth wrote about one of his soldiers in his book About Face, a soldier named Private Henry C. De Boer. This was during the Korean War, and this soldier had not earned the best reputation. He consistently tried to avoid combat, often going to sick call before dangerous missions and missing out on those missions.

• 0:29Jocko Willink?

  But during one operation, on the 6th of February 1951, De Boer was with his platoon on an operation, and he got shot

• 0:42Jocko Willink?

  on an open, iced-over rice paddy. And Hackworth, who was a sergeant at the time, saw him lying there exposed and ran out to get him.

• 0:55Jocko Willink?

  And Hackworth writes this in his book, quote, "Now De Boer was ashen-faced, hit in the chest or gut, I don't know. There was a lot of blood, and he was well into shock. I knew he wasn't going to make it. 'Come on, De Boer, you're gonna be fine, you'll be alright,' I said, giving him the old pep talk, as I grabbed his jacket collar and started sliding him across the ice. But De Boer said, 'No, Sarge, just leave me. You're going to get hit. Just leave me, Sarge.' Then suddenly, he groaned,

• 1:37Jocko Willink?

  and that was it.

• 1:40Jocko Willink?

  He was gone.

• 1:44Jocko Willink?

  I left him and ran back.

• 1:48Jocko Willink?

  De Boer, in death, became one of the greatest heroes of our outfit. He didn't say, 'Take care of me.'

• 1:57Jocko Willink?

  He said, 'Leave me.

• 2:00Jocko Willink?

  Take care of yourself.'

• 2:04Jocko Willink?

  And when I told the other guys the story, old De Boer became a legend in the platoon." End quote.

• 2:18Jocko Willink?

  There was no time for DeBoer to think, no time to decide. There was only time for him to try and save his friends. And that reminds me of another story. April 22nd, 2008, in the city of Ramadi, two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale, age 22, and Lance Corporal Jordan Herter, age 20. They stood their ground and saved scores of their comrades from death when a suicide truck bomb tried to drive past an entry control point.

• 2:57Jocko Willink?

  A point that was guarded by Corporal Yale and Lance Corporal Herter. The suicide bomber did not get past them. General John Kelly, United States Marine Corps, a gold star father himself, gave a speech about these two Marines. And in part of that speech, he described a security video that captured the scene. General Kelly said this. "It took exactly six seconds from when the truck entered the alley until it detonated.

• 3:40Jocko Willink?

  You can watch the last six seconds of their young lives. Putting myself in their heads, I supposed it took about a second for the two Marines to separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came into their view at the far end of the alley. Exactly no time to talk it over or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only enough time to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant had told them to do only a few minutes before. Let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass."

• 4:20Jocko Willink?

  The two Marines had about five seconds left to live.

• 4:25Jocko Willink?

  It took maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim, and open up.

• 4:32Jocko Willink?

  By this time, the truck was halfway through the barriers and gaining speed the whole time.

• 4:38Jocko Willink?

  Here, the recording shows a number of Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs now scattering, like normal and rational men, some running right past the Marines. The Marines who now had three seconds left to live.

• 4:59Jocko Willink?

  For about two seconds more, the recording shows the Marines weapons firing non-stop. The truck's windshield exploding into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart and tore into the body of the son of a bitch who's trying to get past them to kill their brothers. American and Iraqi, bedded down in the barracks, totally unaware of the fact that their lives at that moment depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground.

• 5:30Jocko Willink?

  If they had been aware, they would have known they were safe. Because two Marines stood between them and a crazed suicide bomber.

• 5:45Jocko Willink?

  The recording shows the truck careening to a stop immediately in front of the two Marines.

• 5:53Jocko Willink?

  In all of the instantaneous violence, Yale and Herter never hesitated.

• 6:00Jocko Willink?

  By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back.

• 6:06Jocko Willink?

  They never even started to step aside.

• 6:09Jocko Willink?

  They never even shifted their weight.

• 6:13Jocko Willink?

  With their feet spread shoulder width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons.

• 6:25Jocko Willink?

  They had only one second left to live.

• 6:30Jocko Willink?

  Six seconds in total.

• 6:34Jocko Willink?

  Not enough time to think about their families, their country, their flag, or about their lives or their deaths.

• 6:44Jocko Willink?

  But more than enough time for two very brave young men to do their duty

• 6:52Jocko Willink?

  into eternity.

• 6:57Jocko Willink?

  That is the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight for you.

• 7:11Jocko Willink?

  They did their duty.

• 7:14Jocko Willink?

  They held the line. They protected their friends.

• 7:22Jocko Willink?

  And we can get a glimpse into their mindset

• 7:26Jocko Willink?

  from another serviceman.

• 7:30Jocko Willink?

  A soldier from Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry.

• 7:39Jocko Willink?

  Sergeant 1st Class Marshall Robertson.

• 7:44Jocko Willink?

  He had served about 10 months in Vietnam

• 7:48Jocko Willink?

  and was sent to the rear to finish out his tour.

• 7:53Jocko Willink?

  But his company suffered significant casualties after he left. His company commander was hit.

• 8:01Jocko Willink?

  And he knew his troops needed him.

• 8:06Jocko Willink?

  So he volunteered to go back to the front with his men.

• 8:14Jocko Willink?

  And he wrote this letter on August 20th, 1969.

• 8:21Jocko Willink?

  Quote,

• 8:24Jocko Willink?

  "My dear darling,

• 8:27Jocko Willink?

  honey, I love you so much.

• 8:30Jocko Willink?

  I'm writing this letter at 8:30 PM tonight for I want you to know how I feel about you.

• 8:38Jocko Willink?

  For you see, this might very well be my last letter."

• 8:46Jocko Willink?

  I know you will not understand or be able to understand what or why I'm doing, but I've got to do it.

• 8:56Jocko Willink?

  You see, my company went into relieve Bravo Company, where they had 27 men killed in two days. Well, now my company is taking a beating.

• 9:08Jocko Willink?

  Captain Murphy, my company commander, has been hitting both legs, and I am going out at 4:30 in the morning.

• 9:17Jocko Willink?

  Now, I know what you are thinking, that I have too much to live for.

• 9:24Jocko Willink?

  Well, that's very true.

• 9:28Jocko Willink?

  But there are some times in a man's life when he must do what he must.

• 9:35Jocko Willink?

  Honey, please forgive me for this, but my men have a brand-new officer. I just have to go out there and help them.

• 9:47Jocko Willink?

  I know that you will not understand, but please try to see my side of it.

• 9:55Jocko Willink?

  My love, if I should die over here, it will not be for my country or this country. It will be for my boys.

• 10:05Jocko Willink?

  Please tell the kiddies that I love them, and if this is my last letter,

• 10:12Jocko Willink?

  please remember me.

• 10:16Jocko Willink?

  Whatever happens,

• 10:20Jocko Willink?

  I love you.

• 10:29Jocko Willink?

  Marshall Robertson.

• 10:33Jocko Willink?

  33 years old, father of four.

• 10:37Jocko Willink?

  Loyal husband.

• 10:40Jocko Willink?

  Was killed six days after writing that letter on August 26, 1969, while maneuvering to get to a wounded comrade.

• 10:56Jocko Willink?

  And these are but a few stories of a few men.

• 11:05Jocko Willink?

  I also knew some brave men that stood up and faced death to do their duty and protect their friends.

• 11:20Jocko Willink?

  Men like Mark Lee, Mikey Mansour, and Ryan Job.

• 11:30Jocko Willink?

  Men who, in leaving their mortal forms of this life, became immortal.

• 11:44Jocko Willink?

  Immortal in our memories, immortal in our history, and immortal in their example.

• 11:58Jocko Willink?

  And in their actions, they joined the vast ranks of our fallen heroes.

• 12:07Jocko Willink?

  Heroes who number in the hundreds of thousands, but who are not just numbers.

• 12:18Jocko Willink?

  They were husbands, fathers and sons, wives, mothers and daughters.

• 12:30Jocko Willink?

  They were people with dreams and ambitions and futures.

• 12:36Jocko Willink?

  All who had, like Marshall Robertson, so much to live for.

• 12:51Jocko Willink?

  But they volunteered.

• 12:56Jocko Willink?

  They volunteered to go into the fray.

• 13:00Jocko Willink?

  They volunteered to defend us, they volunteered to protect us, and in the moment of truth,

• 13:09Jocko Willink?

  they stood their ground.

• 13:13Jocko Willink?

  And did their duty.

• 13:16Jocko Willink?

  To the utmost.

• 13:20Jocko Willink?

  Into eternity.

• 13:26Jocko Willink?

  And now,

• 13:29Jocko Willink?

  it is our modest,

• 13:33Jocko Willink?

  but our most important and solemn duty,

• 13:38Jocko Willink?

  to memorialize them.

• 13:42Jocko Willink?

  On this day, and every day, by living to honor them

• 13:48Jocko Willink?

  in our thoughts, words, and deeds.

• 13:54Jocko Willink?

  And by always and eternally

• 13:58Jocko Willink?

  remembering their sacrifice.

• 14:04Jocko Willink?

  They are our heroes.

• 14:08Jocko Willink?

  And we must never forget them.