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Nancy Grace

Heroes of the Armed Services

Aired December 25, 2008 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

NANCY GRACE, CNN ANCHOR, NANCY GRACE: Tonight a 2008 holiday special honoring those who have given so much for our nation. American heroes of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, heroes around the world, many who made the greatest sacrifice. Tonight we honor all American heroes past, present and future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the best motivations that I got throughout the whole time I was in Iraq is just getting presents, getting letters from you guys and I would sit there and read them for hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Thank you for being with us tonight and throughout the year, heroes in the military past and present. Tonight we take a look at what they and their family stateside are living through. First, to investigative journalist Art Harris who actually traveled embedded in Iraq. What was it like there, Art?

ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Nancy, when I was there during the war, it was a novel and scary and exhilarating experience. These are kids who are 18, 19, 20, 21 and you are dependent on them. You are eating MREs with them, sleeping on the dirt. It`s something that really -- it warms you heart to think that these are kids - they`re not much older than my sons and they were keeping me alive and others around me and each other.

GRACE: First out tonight to the mother of Joe Tomci. Joe lost his life in August 2006. With us tonight, his stepmother Susie Tomci. Ma`am, thank you for being with us.

SUSIE TOMCI: Thank you.

GRACE: What can you tell us about Joe?

TOMCI: He was a wonderful young man. He was so full of life. He would just lighten up a room. Just his presence was just wonderful. He was fun filled, laid back young man. I`m sorry, I`m at a loss for words. He was loved by many people. He was an inspiration for his friends, for his family and also for the children at Fishcreek elementary school who were his dear pen pals over in Iraq.

GRACE: Speaking of that, joining us is Tracy Piatt. She is a teacher at Fishcreek elementary school, had all her students writing letters to Joe Tomci in Iraq. Also with us a student there, little Sadie Norton. She`s just 10 years old. There she is. I believe -- does she have her dog with her? She was a pen pal with a fallen hero, Marine Corporal Joe Tomci. Ladies, thank you for being with us. To you teacher, Tracy Piat, what prompted you to pick out Joe Tomci and how did you get your students to write?

TACY PIATT, TEACHER: Joe`s father John worked with me, together. I have a garden outside my classroom at Fishcreek School. He worked with me over the years and when Joe went over to Iraq, he asked if I would be interested in having my students write him a letter. And I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for Joe to get word from home and to let him know that people cared about him. But also a wonderful opportunity for my students to learn more about their country and to meet this young Marine.

GRACE: And how did the project work? How did you get letters to Iraq?

PIATT: The children wrote letters and made cards and we would put them together in a big envelope and mail them through the USO.

GRACE: Take a listen to this little student.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: We sent toys, frisbees, footballs, baseballs, pretty much anything they would enjoy. They are helping our country and everyone who lives here. Without them, we probably wouldn`t be able to come to school and (INAUDIBLE) now.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: We just wanted to make him really happy, because Marines aren`t really happy because they are away from home and everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the best motivations that I got throughout the whole time I was in Iraq is just getting presents, get letters from you guys. I would sit there and read them for hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Back out to the teacher joining us who launched a letter writing campaign to a fallen hero, Joe Tomci, to Sadie Norton and to Tracy Piatt. Tracy, did you get to ever meet him? I take it you did. What was that like?

PIATT: The first year that we wrote to him he came back on leave in August after that year. So then my students were third graders, so I gathered them together and we met in my classroom and Joe and his father came to meet them. It was the most unbelievable moment ever when he walked in that room to see those children, their faces, their hero had just walked into the room. They just stared at him with such awe and admiration. It was beautiful.

GRACE: You`re seeing the video that she`s describing right now, fallen hero meeting little school children who then launched a campaign to let him know he was loved and missed. How long did your letter writing campaign go on?

PIATT: We wrote to him for two years.

GRACE: Wow. That`s a long time. Did he actually write back?

PIATT: He did. He would send letters through his father and then John would bring them into the classroom and read them to us. And then whenever they got to talk on the phone, because sometimes they talked by satellite, he would send a message and John would come in and tell the kids what he to say.

GRACE: How did they talk about satellite?

PIATT: It was phone hookup through the Marines that they had.

GRACE: And when his father would come and read you the letters in class, what would he say?

PIATT: He would tell the children how much he appreciated them writing and how much fun he had opening the packages, because every few months we had sent boxes and boxes of things for him. And he talked about how they uplifted him and helped him get through some really hard times.

GRACE: What would you put in the boxes?

PIATT: Oh, the children brought -- they went shopping and they would get gum and candy and snacks and cookies, little nurf footballs, calling cards so he could call friends at home, those portable cameras so he could take pictures, just anything and everything. One little boy brought in those little plastic army men so that he could have those. The things they thought of was really touching.

GRACE: I want to go out to our littlest guest tonight. Joining us is Sadie Norton, student at Fishcreek elementary. He was a pen pal with, a fallen hero, one of whom we`re honoring tonight Joseph Tomci. Sadie, I see you have your little dog with you. What I its name?

SADIE NORTON, STUDENT, FISHCREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Ryan.

GRACE: Ryan. What is that it`s wearing?

NORTON: He is wearing his Marine uniform.

GRACE: His Marine uniform?

NORTON: Yes.

GRACE: Why did you dress him up like a Marine?

NORTON: Because I named him after a wounded soldier at the hospital. So I decided to dress him up. He just got promoted, because that`s sometimes happier than when you`re on the field and you`re in danger pretty much.

GRACE: Joining Sadie there is teacher Tracy Piatt and you know what, Ms. Piatt, from all of our staff, I can`t tell you how much we appreciate your idea and what you did for Joe and to sweet little Sadie, before I say another word, I just want to thank you ladies for being with us, including your dog. Back out to Susie Tomci. This is Joe Tomci`s step mom. When did Joe decide to join the Marines?

TOMCI: He decided to join the Marines prior to graduating from high school.

GRACE: Why? Why did he want to join the Marines specifically?

TOMCI: He felt this is something he needed to do personally. He looked upon 9/11 as his war, his generation`s war and he just felt that something needed to be done and he was very committed to this. So he joined the Marines and he left (INAUDIBLE) September 2003. He just graduated from high school June of 2003. He just felt like this was something that he needed to do, that he wanted to be a Marine and that he had the skills and leadership to lead others.

GRACE: When did he get shipped to Iraq?

TOMCI: The first time he went to Iraq was April -- excuse me January of 2005 and he was there through August 13, 2005.

GRACE: I am looking now at a beautiful, beautiful scrapbook you have sent to us. It`s in loving memory of our hero Corporal Joe Tomci from your proud Fishcreek friends and pen pals. I just want to show our friends at home this, our hero. We miss you. There`s one letter after the next after the next after the next. Thank you for being brave. I never met you, but you taught me to stand up for what I believe.

TOMCI: Beautiful book, isn`t it?

GRACE: Is this any comfort to you, to you and his family?

TOMCI: Yes it is. That is so valuable and so precious to us, because that just reminds me of all the love that went back and forth from Joe to the children and from the children to Joe and how much he meant to them and how much they meant to him and them to him. I`m sorry.

GRACE: I`m just reading one headline after the next. Here is the school. One of them has drawn, far, far away, it says U.S. Marine Corps Joe. Somebody has drawn him. The letters are really touch the heart. It says Marine`s death in Iraq sends jolts across (INAUDIBLE) , Marine`s death, a loss for his small pals. It goes on and on. And I think to me the single most touching is one of the children that drew our American flag, let`s see, it`s Ian Feeney, who drew the American flag, carefully numbering all of his 50 stars up in the top left corner. Tell me, how many tours did he do, Susie?

TOMCI: Two. It was in the second tour, he left March 6th of 2006, this year and then he was killed August 2nd, 2006. He was due to come home in September.

GRACE: That was what, just two months away he was set to come home?

TOMCI: That is correct. In fact, the rest of his troops returned home on September the 30th from Iraq.

GRACE: We are showing the funeral procession for Joe Tomci, an American hero, in case a lot of you may be watching the new show about heroes, here is a real hero, Joseph A. Tomci. To Ms. Tomci, Joe`s stepmother, did he have to go back for a second tour? Was it required? Did he volunteer? Why did he have to go back?

TOMCI: His troop was sent back to Iraq.

GRACE: I bet that was hard after being home for a while.

TOMCI: Yes. But Joe looked at it as just a typical job. This is a job that is given to you and you do your job, just like someone would give you a job. You`d say, OK, you just do it.

GRACE: What happened? Why did it have to be Joe? What happened to him?

TOMCI: He was returning back to the base on August the 2nd after they were doing a night mission. And they were very close to returning, making it to their base. And from what I understand, it was a very dangerous intersection. They were on foot and Joe had made it across the intersection and then he was leading the rest of (INAUDIBLE) men waiting for them to come on over when a roadside bomb went off and it killed him.

GRACE: Do you recall when you got that phone call?

TOMCI: Well, what had happened, his father was home that August morning when his oldest son Jason came to the house and knocked on the front door, which John thought was odd because usually Jason just comes in the backdoor. When he looked out the window, there were two Marine soldiers that accompanied Jason over to the house. At that time John knew that his son had been killed.

GRACE: Joining us tonight is a special guest. This is Joe Tomci, American hero`s step mother, Susie and Tracy Piatt, a teacher at Fishcreek Elementary school, who had her students writing him, comforting him across the miles, and little Sadie Norton, just 10 years old who loved Joe Tomci from far, far away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Tonight we remember and honor the brave men and women who answered the call to duty, all American heroes. At this moment we remember Staff Sergeant Marco Antonio Silva, just 27 years old, killed March 13, 2006, near Ramadi, Iraq. Joining us, his father Fernando and his sister Rachel. To both of you, thank you for being with us.

RACHEL SILVA, SISTER OF FALLEN HERO: Thank you.

FERNANDO SILVA, FATHER OF FALLEN HERO: Thank you.

GRACE: What a fine looking young man. What can you tell me? Did he go by Marco, I believe, right? What was he like Fernando?

F. SILVA: He was a great kid. He enjoyed playing and having fun all the time.

GRACE: There he is on a motorcycle. That`s huge. What is that?

F. SILVA: That`s a Harley Davidson.

GRACE: So tell me about him growing up. How did he decide to enter the military?

F. SILVA: Actually he really at first he wasn`t anxious to go into the military, but then he went to see my other daughter, Gloria in North Carolina and her husband introduced him into the military. He liked it. From then -- from there he came back and said, dad, I`m going into the military.

GRACE: Mr. Silva, what do you have?

F. SILVA: I have the purple heart and the bronze star that he was given after his death.

GRACE: And Mr. Silva, where do you keep those?

F. SILVA: I keep them right next to the flag they gave us after the funeral. I also keep his uniform. They gave me a uniform with all his medals. It`s hard, but those are my memories of a time that I didn`t think he was I had to bury.

GRACE: Let`s stop to remember Marine Lance Corporal Ryan E. Miller, just 21, killed in Anbar province, Iraq, by a roadside bomb. Miller, on his second tour of duty, a huge Minnesota Vikings and Ohio State Buckeye fan. This man loved the Marines. Ryan Miller, American hero.

Let`s stop and remember Marine Sergeant Nicholas Walsh, 26, (INAUDIBLE) Illinois, killed in Iraq on his second tour, (INAUDIBLE) southwestern Illinois to reenlist. From a long line of military vets, lost his life just hours after a last call to his wife. Loved restoring cars, outdoors, skiing, snow boarding, favorite place Glacier National Park. Leaves behind parents Jerry and Donna, step mom, Maggie, two sisters, four brothers, widow Julie, sons, Tristan and Tanner, Nicholas Walsh, American hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: What her family remembers most about Ssecond Lieutenant Emily Perez is her smile. Her parents now mourn the little girl who became for a short while a young commander leading troops in Iraq. Last month 23- year-old Emily became the first West Point female graduate to die in Iraq.

Tonight we remember and honor the lives of those who sacrificed so much for our country on this holiday, American heroes. One of them, Marco Antonio Silva, tonight his father and sister with us. To his sister Rachel, Rachel, when he went back, it`s my understanding -- was this his second tour of duty?

R. SILVA: Yes, it was.

GRACE: How did you feel when he had to go back for that second tour?

R. SILVA: I think he was a little nervous about it but it was his job. So he just took it as best as he could.

GRACE: Mr. Silva, what happened to Marco?

F. SILVA: I really don`t know and I haven`t gotten the whole thing. I don`t think I want to get the whole thing of exactly what happened.

GRACE: What were you told?

F. SILVA: I was told he was ambushed and he got shot through the side of the -- his vest. That`s all I have.

GRACE: To Art Harris, investigative journalist embedded there in Iraq with the Marines, it`s my understanding his patrol came under small arms fire and there was an improvised bomb. You were there in the area, Art. What was it like?

HARRIS: I was there in Nasiriyah. This was a place that was a town the Marines were ordered to hold so the main force could go around to Baghdad. There were thousands of Fedayeen and we went down an area called ambush alley under fire. And the Fedayeen, they were using women and children as human shields. And these kids Nancy, they didn`t know how to respond. But their duty to each other was to keep each other alive. That`s why they were there fighting for their friends and for their country. People don`t understand the bond that Marines have.

GRACE: One of those Marines that gave his life, Marco Antonio Silva.

Tonight we remember Army Sergeant Ralph Porras, 36th Michigan. The 9/11 terror attacks made Porras join the Army`s 82nd airborne. He made it in just under the age limit of 34. He sustained fatal injuries from mortar fire on combat control about 10 miles south of Baghdad. His army chaplain says he was smiling and big-hearted. Porras, American hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: The brave men and women of the armed forces are in our prayers tonight for the holidays and always.

Marine Sergeant Kelley Courtney lost his life October 20th, 2004, from my hometown of Macon, Georgia. Joining us tonight, his mom, Gena Courtney.

Ms. Courtney, thank you for being with us.

GENA COURTNEY, MOTHER OF KELLEY COURTNEY: Thank you.

GRACE: What can you tell me about your son?

COURTNEY: Well, Kelley was a very fine man. He was a family man. He loved his family as much as anybody ever could. He was a Marine. He and his brother Donnie and friend Mark joined the Marines in 1998. He was proud of being a Marine. And he was sent to Iraq in August of 2004. And he and seven other Marines were killed on October 30th, 2004.

GRACE: Ms. Courtney, I understand he was a counter-intelligence soldier with the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force. What was he doing?

COURTNEY: Kelley was a counter-intelligence specialist with the Marines. He was there gathering information about the insurgents and their stronghold in the Fallujah area of Iraq. He was assisting the battalion from Hawaii in gathering information. It was a very dangerous area where they were going in on the mission. Nobody had gone in that area in quite a while.

And we had gotten an e-mail from him a week before he was killed letting us know that he loved us, to stay in touch with one another, talk with one another, and he would e-mail us as soon as he returned. So we had no contact with him during that week of his mission.

GRACE: And the night before, you were actually watching the news, and you heard about a bombing near Fallujah, correct?

COURTNEY: That`s right. Cindy and Kellie Marie and Logan were in Okinawa, and we were talking on the e-mail back and forth that Saturday evening. And we were anxiously waiting for Kelley to e-mail us, to let us know he had returned back to camp safely. And it was at the same time of the 7:00 news.

So I was talking with Cindy by e-mail on the computer and also looking at the news on TV. And I just glanced at the first broadcast of a bombing there in Fallujah. And Cindy had seen it at the same time.

So we e-mailed back and forth to each other that we were both very scared and very worried for Kelley, but we were going to keep praying and just wait until we were able to talk with him in a few hours, either that night or the next day, Sunday.

GRACE: When did you hear?

We were just waiting to hear from him. And I just went and looked out the window and hadn`t heard anything, just went and looked out the window and I saw a government-issue vehicle with a young man sitting in the front seat with a camouflage hat on and a totally surreal feeling.

It was out of place. And I thought, what is that? What is that in our driveway? And I went to the kitchen door, and it goes into the garage, and that`s when I saw the two uniformed Marine officers coming up to the door and I screamed for my husband Bob to come.

And it was at that time that they told us that Kelley had been killed.

GRACE: I was reading about his wife Cindy and I read that she got a crush on him when she was just eight years old. Is that true?

COURTNEY: Mm-hmm. They were in grammar school together, elementary school, went through high school together. They all went to Herd School (ph). You may have gone to Herd yourself.

GRACE: Dr. John H. Herd.

COURTNEY: Dr. John H. Herd.

(CROSSTALK)

COURTNEY: So they met there in elementary school. And they more or less grew up together. And when he joined the Marines, they were married and they had Kellie Marie, who is now 6, and Robert Logan, who is now 3.

GRACE: Ma`am, about the little children, Kellie Marie and Logan, can they take in what happened to their dad? I mean, I read extensively about your son, and I know that Kelley`s remains had to be shipped home to you in two separate shippings.

COURTNEY: We had two separate funerals for Kelley. Kelley and the other seven Marines were in a convoy truck. They had to double up, because one of the convoy trucks had broken down going from the mission back to Camp Victory.

They were two miles from the safety of the camp and the truck broke down. Because of military regulations they couldn`t leave the truck, so they had to wait for reinforcements. They had to wait for the tow to be hooked up and towed away.

The Marines who were in Kelley`s convoy truck that broke down had to double up. So there were more Marines in the convoy truck than usual. And since that slowed their progress down, the enemy was able to regain strength and force.

And a suicide bomber drove directly into Kelley`s truck. He was killed on impact, along with the other seven Marines. It was so horrific that we had to wait two weeks for Kelley`s initial funeral. And we laid his remains to rest.

But because of DNA testing now that`s available, there were still remains of Kelley and other Marines that had to be identified, and four to five months later, in March 2005, we had Kelley`s second funeral.

GRACE: Ms. Courtney, other than giving you our sympathies, we also give you our thanks. We are talking about Gena Courtney`s son, Kelley Courtney, who was 28 at the time of his death from a small town, my hometown, Macon, Georgia. He loved to skate board, write poems, sing songs, and he leaves behind two beautiful children. Thank you, ma`am.

Let`s stop and remember Army Specialist Joel Taylor, 22, Pinetown, North Carolina, killed, Iraq. Awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon. Care-free, fun, loved the Army. He talked about reenlisting. Leaves behind parents Scotty (ph) and Karen (ph), brother John (ph), also in the Army. Joel Taylor, American hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are men and women who have always answered the call. You labored at what for all time will be known as Ground Zero to save. You patrolled critical transportation facilities in New York City to prevent any further terrorist attacks and calm fears of a frighten public.

Finally, you have freed a nation, and you did it all at great personal cost, the cost can never be measured, nor will it be repaid. But, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: While so many families celebrate the holidays and welcome the New Year, many are praying for the well-being, for the safety of their loved ones serving our country. Tonight we join those prayers as "We Honor our American Heroes."

Very quickly out to psychologist Dr. Jeff Gardere. So many families, such suffering. What are your words of advice?

JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: The most important thing is to -- if nothing else, to stay together and honor their memory in the most courageous way that we can, and that`s by showing their continued heroics, even though they may not be with us any longer.

The fact is they made a difference, they gave their lives and they continued to give their lives. And we have to honor that through our families.

GRACE: Tonight, with us, two American heroes, a lady and a gentleman. With us Lieutenant Tara Dawe. And she`s currently with the Manhattan Warrant Officer. She has served on multiple tours of duty. And her regiment is up for another rotation. Here in our New York studios.

Joining us out of our nation`s capital, Marine Captain Christopher Ayres. He was injured April 13th, 2004, a severe injury in Fallujah.

Sir, you were in the battle of Fallujah, what happened?

CAPT. CHRISTOPHER AYRES, MARINES: This was the first assault into Fallujah in April of 2004. We were conducting combat operations against enemy insurgents that killed the four U.S. contractors from Blackwater and hung them from the bridge.

And on this particular day, I set up a hasty attack against some enemy insurgents. And during the hasty attack, we were ambushed pretty bad. And we sustained intense small arms fire, light machine gun fire and rocket fire. And one of the anti -- one of the rockets that pierced the side of the vehicle was an anti-tank round.

And it pierced the side of the vehicle and lodged in the engine department. And my -- the back half of my right leg just happened to be in the way.

GRACE: Captain, at that moment of your attack and your injury, a severe life-altering injury, what went through your mind?

AYRES: Pretty much not much at the point, because -- I mean, that took my breath away. I couldn`t breathe. I couldn`t talk. And I pretty much just passed out from shock. And I don`t know how long I was out. And when I came to, my field of view and my vision was pretty skewed. It was very narrow. And I really didn`t have a good concept of time at that moment.

GRACE: How did you rehab?

AYRES: How did I rehab? I spent 75 days in Brooke Army Medical Center and I left the hospital on a walker, and forearm crutches, walking crutches. And I used those for a month after I was discharged and then I was able to continue to walk by myself. And it took me probably about a good six months for me to gain strength in my leg and stability to where I was able to use my leg, because I was told that I would never be able to walk and definitely not be able to run.

GRACE: And are you?

AYRES: I can walk very well. However, I do have balance issues. It`s nice to have a hamstring when you lose your balance. And running, I can`t run like I used to. I call it hobbling. But it`s nothing like it used to be.

GRACE: Captain, I`ve got a very strong feeling that you will run again. Here in the studio with me, Second Lieutenant Tara Dawe. Served in Iraq, 2003, 2004. She was also in Bosnia and her unit back up for rotation. Currently with the Manhattan Warrants Officers.

OK. You`re no pushover, that`s clear. But how did a nice lady like you end up in a hellhole like that? You didn`t have to register. You didn`t have to enlist.

2ND LT. TARA DAWE, NYPD WARRANTS DETECTIVE: Well, I joined when I was 17. So, actually, my father had to go with me to sign the papers to join the military.

GRACE: My father lied to get into the military early, so I get it. Tell me what your experience was.

DAWE: Actually, there was a lot of emotions over there. A lot of terrible things happened that were hard to deal with, but I personally think that so many good things come out of it also. I mean, the families there, we were greeted very well over there. They had graffiti on the walls saying, "thank you, USA." I personally saw things saying, thank you, we love George Bush. I mean, I was there from the beginning, 12 months after.

GRACE: You know, Tara, when I watch the news, the world news, the international news, I really don`t know who to believe. Sometimes they show us pictures of the citizens angry, sometimes they show us pictures of the citizens welcoming us. What did you see?

DAWE: I can -- I really can`t say that we were ever treated poorly in any city. We moved around from city to city all over the country every few months and everyone welcomed us. The children loved us. The families would cook us food and bring us food when we were out on patrols. They would do anything for us.

When we had to leave -- when my unit was leaving, there were numerous people that came up to us, asking us to stay, wanting to come back to the United States, actually.

GRACE: Before you went to Iraq, you wrote a letter, why?

DAWE: Well, there were a few of us that actually did that. We did it after my unit got deployed, but before we actually entered Iraq. It was to our families. It was our first serious deployment, and we heard about other people doing that. And we thought about it and made a lot of sense. Because you can actually say goodbye to your family, you know, God forbid anything happened.

GRACE: Tara, do you recall the first time when you were overseas in Iraq and you learned that a colleague had lost his or her life for their country?

DAWE: Yes, I remember that.

GRACE: What happened?

DAWE: It was actually our battalion commander. It was the first time it affected our unit. Our unit was actually very well over there. We didn`t have that much tragic. We were a very good unit. And when that happened, it affected everyone. Everyone differently, actually. We had a memorial service for him over there. And it was the first time that we all actually had to sit down and see the reality of what happened.

I mean, because sometimes -- you know, I don`t want to say complacent, but you just find yourself in a different place and you kind of ignore some of the things going on in the world to deal with what`s going on over there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Tonight, as the year winds down, we have so much to give thanks for. But our hearts and prayers still with American heroes who serve their country all year.

Here in the studio with me, Tara Dawe. Tara, you`re facing redeployment. What are your thoughts?

DAWE: I have positive ones. I mean, I have already experienced it once and I know there`s a lot of people that kind of hesitate to think about going back a second time. But so many people have done it before me. Some people are on their third or fourth rotations as of now. So, I mean, I`m not -- I don`t mind it at all.

GRACE: And to Captain Christopher Ayres, who had a severe injury to his leg fighting for our country. Christopher, if you could do anything differently, would you?

AYRES: No, I would not. Not at all. Everything was worth...

GRACE: Why?

AYRES: You know, if you were to ask me, was it worth it going over there? Absolutely it was. You know, bottom line, when you`re stripped of everything materially and you don`t have anything and you learn to train with each other, what it boils down to is that marine on your left and on your right, that sailor on your left and on your right, and that soldier on your left and right, and that airman on your left and right.

And when I was laying flat on my back in that house in Fallujah, and, you know, saw my Marines and Corpsman perform with the utmost bravely, honor, and courage, and intrepidy, that`s what it boils down to, is these men. And they performed absolutely flawlessly.

GRACE: And, Captain, before we sign off, when you would be far, far away from home, what would you think of?

AYRES: I would think of my wife and my daughter.

GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Army Sergeant Alejandro Dominguez, 24, San Diego, California, killed, Iraq. He loved the Army so much, he listed his tank manual as his favorite book on MySpace. Leaves behind wife Brenda (ph), 1-year-old daughter Alexia (ph), 3-year-old son Isaiah (ph), parents and a younger sister. Dominguez, on a second tour. Alejandro Dominguez, American hero.

Thank you to all our American heroes and to you for being with us. And tonight, on this holy night, merry Christmas to everyone who holds it dear. I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night and Merry Christmas, friend.

END