Honoring LCpl. Daniel Gabriel Raney

05/16/2025

01/05/2020

I attended in 2015, for Gabe, where they honored the Fallen at a church on the Base at Quantico, and had a lovely lunch, dinner, and reception for all the Gold Star Families and Marines at the Museum~Please Share with any OEF Marines that may not have seen this and would like to attend this year~

11/11/2017

09/29/2017

Authored by James Clark, of 1/6 Bravo, who explains what happened when the Battle of Marjah began. He now works as a reporter/journalist for TaskandPurpose.com~

Five years ago, coalition forces launched the largest operation in the history of the war in Afghanistan, second only to the initial invasion.

09/12/2017

TAKEN DOWN BY WKRN-TV Click on Gabe's paver to see the video~Thank you Brett Martin and WKRN-TV for doing such a wonderful job on this story about Gabe and The Pleasant View Veterans Memorial~

05/27/2017

One of you Brothers posted this Gabe, and it made me cry, because this is my Life without you and Luke, I still see you there.

05/27/2017

They honor Gabe every year, but this is the first year I have been emotionally able to attend a Memorial Day event, and hope I can get throughout it. This is different than other events I attend because there will be many families at a picnic afterwards, and I know I will miss the boys as I watch alone. But I have to get out of my house and try to do this.

Reminder!!

11/25/2016

My Heroes!! Charles and Marjorie Knott Eastman ~ I can never Thank You both enough, for your service, your sacrifices, and for placing that first flag on the street sign bearing the name of my child, Honoring LCpl. Daniel Gabriel Raney ~ You struck the match that set our town on fire to build this Memorial when you guys (illegally) bolted that big, beautiful American Flag to his sign that day in 2010. I can't wait to read your book !

01/02/2016

A sign I made and hung for Homecoming. 8/2010

01/02/2016

I remember going to Dover, me and 11 yo Luke, to meet his brother Gabe's body as they brought him off the big plane from Afghanistan, with Tyler Roads, and seeing Sonia Marie Roads-Guiles for the first time...The Air Force took us by the hand and helped us through it, and I always knew that the people there really suffered through their jobs, too. You could feel it ~ They honor our Fallen so well.

This is a picture the military has never let anyone see until now.

This is a picture behind the scenes at Dover Air Force Base where the bodies of fallen soldiers are prepared for burial.
And that includes being properly dressed, all the way down to the smallest detail.

In this picture Staff Sgt. Miguel Deynes is making sure the uniform is just right for an army pilot recently killed in Afghanistan.

There is a very specific process once a fallen soldier is returned home.

The bodies are flown back to the U.S. on a cargo jet.
A team of service members wearing white gloves carries the coffins, covered with flags, to a white van that takes them to the Armed Forces Medical Examiner.

The remains are washed, the hands are scrubbed clean, and the hair is shampooed. If necessary bones are wired together and damaged tissue is reconstructed with flesh-toned wax.

Sometimes they will use photos, sometimes just intuition to recreate the wrinkles in faces, and the lines around the mouth or the corner of the eyes.

“It has to look normal, like someone who is sleeping.”

Once the body is ready then the uniform is prepared.
That includes putting medals in the proper order on the ribbon rack above the jacket’s breast pocket.

During the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan 10 to 20 bodies were arriving every day.

The embalmers often worked all night to get the bodies home on time. That can take an emotional toll so the mortuary has a large gym so workers can blow off steam.

Many say they are haunted by how young the fallen soldiers are, and by how many of them leave behind small children.

That’s why Sgt. Deynes says they are advised not to do research into the backgrounds of the soldiers.

“If I knew the story of every individual who went through here, I would probably be in a padded cell.”

The dress uniform being prepared in this particular case will be in a closed casket.

Even so, it will be perfectly tailored, starched and pressed. Everything will be checked down to the last detail.

Sgt. Deynes says, “They’re (the family) not going to see it. I do it for myself. It’s more than an honor it’s a blessing to dress that soldier for the last time.”

NEVER FORGET!