DUTY

Marines Mark Memorial Day

Read soldier’s final letter in Afghanistan.

More than 1,851 American servicemen and -women have died in Afghanistan over more than a decade. On Monday, Marine Gen. John Allen, top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, read a letter from one of those soldiers. “There will be a child who will live because men left the security they enjoyed in their home to come to this,” wrote 23-year-old Marine Sgt. William Stacey, who was killed by an improvised explosive earlier this year. “He will have the gift of freedom, which I have enjoyed for so long myself, and if my life brings the safety of a child who will one day change the world, then I know that it was all worth it.” During Memorial Day ceremonies at NATO-coalition headquarters in Afghanistan, Allen also helped lay a wreath to honor those who gave their lives for “freedom, duty, selflessness, and sacrifice.”