This past weekend, my lovely wife, Melissa, ran in the Army Ten-Miler. She did it in honor of her father, COL Richard Henderson, and carried his St Christopher medal and dogtag, both of which he carried through his two tours in Viet Nam. Over the last mile, when her muscles were betraying her and the end of the race seemed so far, she gripped his icons in her hand and toughed it out, just as her father would have. Ten miles in his shoes.
We went to a restuarant in Arlington for lunch with her mother and couldn’t help but notice several runners come in together all wearing the same distinctive t-shirt. On the back, it had the silhouette of a soldier carrying his rifle, with Sgt Andrew C Nicol’s name.
I was curious and had my smartphone with me. So, I quickly searched and found him listed on the Military Times Hall of Valor. Sgt Nichol had been killed by an IED in Afghanistan during his fifth combat deployment. He’d graduated from Exeter High School in 2006, joined the Army and quickly found his niche in the Rangers. In five short years, he deployed five times.
He was a wrestler in high school and the kind that never gives up. His coach related a story of a semi-final match that Nicol was losing badly on points that he won by pinning his opponent in the final seconds. He could also kid around with his friends and teammates, known for his crooked smile and his imitation of Seinfield’s Kramer. Like all Ranger sergeants, he was a leader, tasked with leading a team of up to 40 men when he died. He was awarded his second Bronze Star posthumously.
After we finished our meal, I stopped by to chat with the group. His father, Roland, and his sister both talked about running for him and pointed out that another in their group had a brother who’d been killed overseas as well. I’m an emotional guy, so mostly what I was able to choke out was that I was sorry for their loss and grateful for his service. Melissa and her mother also spoke about Dick’s service and Melissa’s run.
The A Team ranked 24th in the “All Comers” team category, running ten miles in Sgt Nicol’s shoes.
