Murph: The Protector Page #8

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And I said to him,

"Bye, Mike."

And he said, "Mama,

you never say goodbye to me."

And I said,

"I don't know why I said that."

I said, "Oh, don't pay

attention to me."

But then he said goodbye to everybody

else and he told Kelly and John,

he said, "Oh, I'll see you." And they

said, "Yeah, we'll see you," like that.

So I didn't think

anything more about it.

I pick him up

and I take him to the airport.

And we're driving to the airport.

We're talking about

a hundred different things.

And I said, "Oh, God," I said,

"Michael, please do me a favor,

call and let us know

that you got home to Hawaii safe."

And I said,

"Hey, Mike, do me a favor,

when you get out to Hawaii,

make sure you give me a call back."

You know, 'cause we... I just want to

make sure that he gets home okay.

So in the meantime,

he never did call.

We were told when he was

gonna come to the United States.

And Danny and I decided

to go down to Dover.

Maureen and I wanted to meet Michael

when he returned to US soil.

They took him out of the plane.

And they took him down

on this big...

it was almost like a carrier

that comes up to the height

of the plane to take the casket.

As the casket came down

and it went down...

all the way down to the ground,

I could picture Michael coming

in his white uniform towards us.

I could just picture him, 'cause he

was... one foot turned in a little bit.

And I could picture him

walking over to us.

When it hit the ground

at about the length of the time

that it could have taken him

to walk over to us,

there was this warmth,

honest to God.

And it was almost like a hug

from him.

And I looked down and I looked

and everybody felt

the same reaction.

And we all...

it was, like, calm.

And I remember

we all looked at each other

and I said,

"Did you feel that?"

And everybody...

my brother-in-law,

my sister-in-law,

Dan, John...

we all felt it.

It was like this warm,

like, calm that came over.

All the way home,

we were just calm.

I wanted to ride with my son.

It was his last trip home.

So I told Maureen that I would ride

in the hearse with Michael.

And she rode in...

her uncle provided a limousine.

She rode with the family

right behind us.

And we drove.

Maryland, we had, like,

a two-police-car escort.

And then New Jersey,

the New Jersey troopers met us

and they were

a two-car escort.

And we get to the Verrazano Bridge.

And at the Verrazano Bridge...

only Commissioner Kelly

of New York City, you know?

New York City

always seems to do it

bigger and better

than everybody else.

Every town stopped traffic,

had police standing on the corner

saluting him.

When we came over the bridges

coming back,

the Belt Parkway was

completely shut down.

Every stop,

those officers would be there

blocking the traffic

so they couldn't get through

and saluting his casket

coming past.

I will never forget that

as long as I live.

Remember, this is before we knew

anything about the battle,

anything of his courage

or what he did.

He was just a Navy SEAL

being returned home.

They close down the Belt Parkway

and there is a New York City

police officer

who salutes Michael

as he goes by.

And I turned,

I put my hand on the casket

and I just said, "Michael,"

I said, "this is all for you.

And you deserve it."

One of the things I'm proud of is,

as first responders,

we take care of each other

as best we can.

And it was nice to know

that they accepted Mike

and his sacrifice

as one of the local guys.

And they went out of their way...

The police department, the fire

department... everybody turned out.

Volunteer or paid,

everybody came together

and did everything they could

to try to make the situation

as easy or as bearable

for Dan and Maureen as possible.

At the funeral,

they filled the church.

The church holds, like,

I think, 2000-2500 people.

The church was filled.

And they were outside.

It was raining too, so everybody

was standing out in the rain.

It was pouring rain.

And I remember getting into

the limousine and looking out,

and I saw these men

that obviously served

in World War II or Korea...

old men...

standing at attention

and saluting him all the way

down the street out of Kings Park.

You know, everybody is still

in a kind of shock at the same time.

You know, you're going

through the motions

and you're, you know, realizing,

but yet not realizing

what's going on,

because you just don't

want to believe that it's happened.

I'll never forget

them wheeling the casket

down the middle of the church.

And it came time

to go right past me,

and that was...

that was the hardest I've cried

in my life.

I'd never felt that before,

because it wasn't a sadness for me.

It wasn't a pity thing.

It was... I...

my heart was broken

for another being and another family.

And I didn't know

what to do with myself.

The fact that he...

that he wasn't there anymore,

that he paid

the ultimate sacrifice,

just killed me,

absolutely killed me.

When we left the funeral home,

the Suffolk Police Department

provided

- a motorcycle escort in the rain...

- An escort in the rain.

...with a couple other

departments as well.

When they approached

the entrance to Calverton,

the local fire departments

got together

and set up ladder trucks

and hung tremendous...

- Huge American flags.

- ...American flags

from the top of the ladder trucks

over the roadway.

Brings back memories now.

You know, I can kind of picture

the flags waving.

The engine trucks...

the fire engine trucks... it was...

it was...

it was awesome, really.

We all park

and there's a private service...

the O'Callaghans

and Michael's friends

and really tight Navy...

an aide had come.

They lift out Michael

and they bring him over

to his gravesite and put him down.

And there's a short service

by Father Coyle there.

And we...

the service ends,

and Maureen and I and John,

we turn

and we are heading back

to the car,

which is literally 50 feet away.

And we just leave Mike.

We were the last two to leave.

We turn around and we head back.

And Maureen's phone goes off.

And I remember it so vividly.

She says, "Who would be

calling me now?

They all know

we're at a funeral."

I look down

and my cell phone's going off.

And so I look at my cell,

I open it up.

And then I see tears

welling up in her eyes.

And my first thought was,

"Oh, she got more bad news. What?"

And I said,

"Maureen, are you okay?"

And she can't speak.

And she just hands me the phone.

And I look at the phone

and it's a message from Michael

that says,

"Mama, home safe and sound.

Love, Mike."

And in it, it says,

"Mama, home safe and sound."

And I thought, "Oh, my God,"

you know, that's a gift,

knowing that your child...

temporarily you won't see him,

but he's okay.

Now remember, we're in July...

July 13th now, he's being buried.

The message on March 31st was,

"Mama, got home

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