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with the Dover Air Force Base commanding general and a chaplain, who explained the procedure after the plane arrived and that Michael’s remains could not be returned to New York until all military matters, such as funeral arrangements and paperwork, were completed.
    Back in Patchogue, the media had descended on Maureen’s home, where Sharon McKenna, Justice Cohalan’s secretary, and Karen handled the endless telephone inquiries. Dozens of media cameras, trucks, and personnel were set up in the front yard. Several members of the media went door-to-door and tried to get someone to make an on-camera comment. They got no takers, but neighbor Lance Marquis identified a yearbook picture of Michael. Lance called Dan and told him about the media onslaught, and Dan asked him to tell the media that the family would hold a media briefing at 10:00 AM the next day at Maureen’s home.
    At approximately 10:00 PM the family, along with the general and the chaplain, were driven in an Air Force bus to the tarmac and positioned about thirty feet from the plane that had just arrived. The side door of the plane opened and they could see the Air Force Honor Guard that surrounded the flag-draped coffin inside. A hi-lo machine was raised into position. The Air Force escort turned and saluted, then slowly lifted the coffin and placed it on the machine. They saluted
again and went back inside the plane. As tears streamed down their faces, Dan turned to Maureen and said, “Maureen, there’s our boy.”

Peace Be with You ... and Also with You
    As Michael’s remains reached the ground, Maureen mentally pictured Michael getting up in his white dress uniform and walking over to them, putting his arms around them, and saying, “I’m home.” At the same time Maureen “saw” Michael approach, Dan was overcome by a sense of calmness and peace. He immediately turned to Maureen, who said, “Do you feel that?” Both acknowledged the sense of calm, as did John. Dan later described the moment: “It’s was like Michael touched us, it was such a sense of calmness ... and so unusual. It was something like I have never ever felt before ... it was like this real emotional moment ... there’s this anticipation ... this agitation ... there’s this anxiety, and then_just when Michael came level to the ground, within seconds this overwhelming sense of calmness and peace enveloped us.”
    Maureen recalled, “It was such a calming experience, like I have never felt before. It was like I could picture when Michael’s casket reached the ground, he got up and walked over to us and put his arms around us and said, ‘It’s OK, I’m home now.’ I can’t begin to tell you how comforting that moment was to me ... to all of us.”
    Four Navy honor guard sailors marched toward Michael’s coffin, saluted, and placed the coffin in the waiting ambulance truck, which drove slowly to the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs at the other end of the base. As described in his favorite book, Gates of Fire , by Steven Pressfield, Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy had returned home not carrying his shield, but on it, “because a warrior carries helmet and breastplate for his own protection, but his shield for the safety of the whole line. There is a force beyond fear. More powerful than self-preservation.”
    After the truck left, all reentered the Air Force bus, still feeling peaceful and calm. As they took their seats, the Air Force chaplain, having heard Dan and Maureen’s comments, asked, “When did you feel this?” Dan and Maureen looked at each other and related their feelings, then the chaplain responded, “You know, it is not an uncommon occurrence. I can’t explain it, but the few families who come here seem to get the same effect. Those who don’t think spiritually find it difficult to explain.” Dan and Maureen were comforted by the fact that other families had received the same healing they had just experienced.

Michael’s Revenge
    As they all