Daniel Brian Hyde

West Point, 2007

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Adam Nordin on May 28, 2024:

Dan, When I typed this year's date into the title, I started with 2023 and realized I was a year off - it's now 2024. Somehow, this last year flew by and I feel as if I was just writing to you. Much has happened. I'm still at the same job. We love Williamsburg. My toddler son is a wild beyond all measure and showing signs of intellect, athleticism, curiosity, and determination. And a bunch of our great classmates and I were just selected for battalion command. Do you remember sitting in Ranger School or running around as a platoon leader and thinking how old our battalion commanders seemed? We are those people now. Those people who we'd dive into a bush to avoid, those people who seem to run on caffeine and adrenaline, those people who, even with graying hair, can still crush a 12-mile ruck or a 2-mile run. Undoubtedly we'd all still be trying to keep up with you - you would have appreciated the new selection process for commanders, and surely there is a battalion's-worth of troops who could have been better under your leadership. When the word came out about my selection, I couldn't help but think of you and the others who are no longer with us. I had to appreciate those who've touched my life to make me who I am, who've supported me through hardship, and who give me purpose in this next assignment. Earlier this year I told someone that graduating West Point gave me the opportunity to work, serve, and fight with all my best friends. You were, and are, one of those friends, Dan. I'm fortunate to know you and to call you my friend. We are all better for being graced by your presence. And, I want to to thank you for being the man that you are - the man who walked into death's sanctuary, not for fame or glory, but for his friends and country. Your survival in all of our hearts is your transcendence of time and dimension, a burden that only someone like you can withstand. Until we meet again, Dan - you are not forgotten.

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