Major Doug Zembiec

Awful news. A buddy of mine from the Marine Corps and Naval Academy died in Iraq. I just last week looked his name up in the USMC e-mail address book to try to drop him a line. I was thinkin’ about him and hand not heard from him in a couple of years since he was last stationed in Northern VA. I always regretted that our paths never intersected more, I would have like to hang with him some more in our post Academy days.

At the Academy people would always come up to me from behind or quickly from the side and would say "Hey, Zembiec" and he got the same thing with people calling him Jilson. I always thought of him as my alter ego. The life that I would have had if I could have been more of a free spirit. He was a bit crazy, where I was reserved. He was relaxed, when I was stressed. He was personable, when I kept to myself. He stayed single and went infantry, while I got married and went supply. He was a man I would have like to been or have my kids grow up to be like. The second you met him you knew he was great, not cocky or arrogant, just "bigger" than most. The worst news to hear.

When we were in Lejuene and he was there we were trying to get together but he as a single Infantryman was ziggin' as I was zaggin'. I remember we did get together, but he had to go into the field early the next day so Wendy and I went over for a couple of beers to his place in Swansboro. He lived in a old house over looking the water with a bunch of guys. All the rooms were taken except a enclosed type of lookout tower on the top of the house. It was perfect for him. We went up to check it out and it was all Doug. He was a good Shit!!!

Wendy and I are going to his funeral is on Wed in Annapolis and then his is being buried in Arlington.

An article about him below from 2004. It is a good read.

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2004/08/marine_captain_.html