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that there was no new information. Tonight was different.
    After just a minute or two into the conversation, Dan saw Muse walk to the end of the tree line and stand along the road as he engaged in an extended conversation. Dan walked out onto the front porch to observe as the conversation continued for another twenty minutes. Dan knew that it was not good news and tried mentally to prepare himself for the worst.
    After completing the call to NAVSPECWARCOM, Muse immediately telephoned Widenhofer and explained the situation. Michael Murphy had been killed in action. As the CACO, Widenhofer asked Muse to wait until he arrived to inform the family. Seeing Dan standing on the front porch, Muse explained that Dan had
been watching him and that he could not go back into the house and not tell them what he knew. Both agreed, then Muse hung up. After informing his wife of the news, Widenhofer changed into his uniform for a quick and emotional trip to the Murphy home.
    Muse took several deep breaths and then, with a lot of “self-talk,” walked back toward the house with his head down, desperately searching for the right words as he approached Dan. Dan yelled, “No, I’m not going to let you tell me what you have to tell me. No!”
    “Mr. Murphy, I am so sorry.”
    Dan, mentally and physically exhausted, began to walk away, but after a couple of steps he turned to Muse and said, “You are going to have to tell Maureen. I can’t do it; she has been through enough already.” Muse nodded his head and entered the house. Dan began pacing around the front yard and crossed the street to the bank’s parking lot, which was surrounded by a tall wooden fence. Muse found Maureen in the kitchen. She appeared mentally and physically exhausted. She looked up at him with her very tired blue eyes. His heart ached as he put his hand on her arm and said, “Mrs. Murphy, I am so sorry, but Michael didn’t make it.” Immediately her knees weakened as an unbearable stabbing pain deep inside her stomach took her breath away. She winced and fell back against the refrigerator. Muse braced her from collapsing. After about ten seconds she regained control and threw her hands up and said, “No. If Michael is not here, he is in a better place. He is not alone and he is no longer in pain and bleeding.” There were no tears—yet.
    The word of Michael’s death immediately spread throughout the house. John heard the emotional cries and walked into the hallway just outside the kitchen. The crowd of people was so big that he was unable to see his mother or into the kitchen.
    “What’s going on?”
    James and Thomas Allmer, John’s cousins, embraced him and said, “I’m so sorry, man.” John instantly realized his brother’s fate. Stunned, he turned and walked slowly down the hallway and out the back door. James and Thomas followed him to the redwood table on the patio where he and Michael had spent many hours over the years hanging out and talking. He reminisced about the years that he idolized his brother and how he had always looked after and protected him, how he had included him in many activities, such as swimming, lifeguarding, and social events, and how he had taken him to Penn State for a week when Michael was a student there and used him as a “chick magnet.”
    Across the street in the parking lot, Dan yelled at the stars, “Life is so dammed unfair!” In anger and frustration as a constant stream of tears ran down his face, he punched the wooden fence over and over, alone with his thoughts.

    Having brought John inside, Dan’s sister Maureen began to look for Dan. His fiancée, Karen, went out the front door and saw Dan punching the fence and yelling. She crossed the street and heard him talking incoherently. He did not respond to her repeated attempts to gain his attention. She noticed blood dripping from his hands, as well as the rosary he was holding.
    Dan’s sister Maureen saw Karen leading Dan toward the house. She watched as he