The Boston Globe has a nice article on my late friend and fellow Marine Gregory MacDonald. Greg died in Iraq more than a year ago when his Light Armored Vehicle overturned while travelling to aid Americans under fire.

At 29, Greg is depicted in the piece as "the old man of his unit." I don't remember ever thinking of him that way. Perhaps that is because we were the same age. Proximity in years was one thing that drew me to MacDonald. The fact that we both grew up outside of Boston, and found ourselves living in Washington, DC and serving in the same Frederick, Maryland Marine unit was another. Like myself and a lot of Marines, Lance Corporal MacDonald was deeply interested in politics. Because his views often differed from many of his fellow Marines, he found himself in debate after debate. Greg was a bit of a stammerer, but thankfully this didn't prevent him from conversing with just about anyone on just about anything. He was the most talkative stutterer that I've ever met. His name really fit him.

It didn't surprise me to learn after Greg's death that he had spoken out against the war in Iraq. Greg had studied and researched Middle Eastern affairs, and hoped to find policy work that would help bring peace to the embattled region. It also didn't surprise me that Greg went to Iraq. I suspect he probably recognized that as a Marine his job was to carry out policy, not make it. Reservists are citizen-soldiers. Greg did his job as a citizen, and then did his job as a Marine.

From the Globe article and from hearing from those close to him, my understanding is that Greg came to believe that the Marines were doing a lot of good in Iraq. "Doubts about the existence of Saddam Hussein's stockpile of weapons, so central to his initial opposition to the war, seemed secondary after his unit uncovered a mass grave," the piece notes.

Some might view the notion of the peacemaker Marine as an oxymoron. Greg's life proves otherwise. His funeral really brought that point home to me. A couple dozen Marines in dress blues juxtaposed with peace activists wearing anti-war buttons demonstrated how many different, and I mean different, people Greg affected. He is in a better place now.

''There are 976 of them now," Greg's still grieving father points out. ''Who will remember the names?" I certainly will remember one name and one Marine. How could anyone who came into contact with Gregory MacDonald ever forget him?

Great piece.

God rest his soul.