To All:

Tonight, at approximately 6:00 p.m., Gunnery Sergeant Edmund Joseph Decato Sr., US Army, retired, veteran of WW II and Korea, hero of the Normandy D-Day Invasion, and numerous other campaigns, winner of multiple medals for bravery under fire including the Silver Star, multiple Purple Heart recipient, beloved Father and Father-in-law, was recalled to active duty patrolling to Heavenly Grounds around the Pearly Gates of Heaven. He will be deeply missed. G Sgt. Decato, Dad to Mary and David Lemke, passed away at Madigan Army Hospital tonight after suffering total renal failure accompanied by another massive heart attack. He was surrounded by those he loved, and who loved him.

I, personally, was proud to have known him, and honored to have him call me "son", and allow me to call him "dad." Those doctors and nurses at his side knew he was not just a 74-year-old man, but a true American Hero to whom we all owed a debt of gratitude, and they treated him with great care and dignity. His written and coherent verbal wishes for "DNR" status were respected, though every means available were attempted to preserve the life of a man who marched through to Aushwitz to free our Jewish brethren from the death camps, and pushed the Nazis back to Berlin. Though it went against all military protocol, it was tearfully touching to witness four Captains and a Major at his bedside holding a brisk salute to a fallen hero of yesterday. Something I will never forget. Mary and I are relieved that March is finally over. Two souls, crushed by tragedy, pray April will bring a rebirth of our spirits and faith - tested, crushed, pushed beyond the limits most of you could imagine, but not broken. We will rise from this, stronger yet in our faith; but this will take time.

Too much has happened too soon. Dad's wishes are that Medical Science use whatever they can of his remains, in the hopes that he could once again serve his fellow man and woman. Whatever cannot be used, will be cremated, and again at his wishes, his ashes spread with those of his beloved dog, Girl. At his request, there will be no funeral services. Instead of his rightful resting place at Arlington, he wished to remain close to his family.

Dad is a peace now. No pain, no restless nights, no more haunting memories of the nine out of ten fallen comrades and the guilt he felt for not joining them then. Peace with what he witnessed in those Polish Death Camps. God Bless you, brave man, loving father, and servant of your Country. You deserve your well-earned rest.

That rest will not yet come to Mary or I. We need and ask for your patience and prayers during this time. Again we thank those who have helped us through the first part of our terrible month, and ask nothing but your continued prayers. I, David, personally pity the very few who are fortunate enough not to have experienced anything like this, yet lack the emotional compassion us "laymen" normally would expect from professional caregivers. The overwhelming majority of you, who serve in the trenches with Mary every week, we love and thank deeply. You are our family, our community, our friends.

God Bless you, Edmund Decato. And God Bless you, our friends,

David Lemke