I live in Cottage Grove, Minnesota.  I’m writing in regards to the Bateman Carroll Funeral Home Obituary for Daniel Brosseau I found on the internet.  Although we hadn’t served together long, Dan was one of the best friends I had during my tour in the Marine Corps.  I personally found he was all the wonderful things his obituary and Katy’s narrative had to say about him.  I even felt he was speaking to me about Sam Cooke and Little Richard.  We both loved music.

I first met Dan the summer of 1961 at Camp Fuji, Japan.  Camp Fuji was a training base camp at the base of Mount Fuji for the 3rd Marine Division headquartered in Okinawa.  We were both teenage Marines assigned to camp security.  We lived in general purpose tents year-round, 6 or 8 Marines to a tent.  We got our water from a water buffalo outside.  The heads were under the stars.  We would trudge 100 yards through the snow in our parkas and Mickey Mouse boots to take an ice-cold shower every day in the winter.

We all slept on a cot in a sleeping bag.  Dan had been there before the rest of us, and he had been able to acquire sheets and blankets for his cot somehow.  He also had built himself a nice wooden locker to stow his gear, and a hanging mirror that everyone in the tent used to shave by.  These were luxuries.
  
Dan’s time was up at Camp Fuji in the fall of 1961, and he rotated out to his next duty station.  I still had many months left to go, so he left his sheets, blankets, and locker with me.  That meant a lot, since no one else had them.  That’s the last time I ever heard from him.  I started college in my home town when my enlistment was up.  I now see Dan stayed in and made an exceptional Marine Corps career for himself.

When Google started their search engine, I began searching for Dan a couple times a year without any success….until now.  I was shocked that I finally found him, but it was heartbreaking to learn that he had passed.  Sadly, it took an internet obituary for me to find him.

This is me, Katy Brosseau Stoertz, with my Uncle Danny in 2008.

My Uncle Danny was truly one of a kind. The thing I will remember about him the most was his boisterous laugh. It was infectious. I have so many fond memories of him throughout my childhood and my adult life. He was someone you could go to with anything and he would listen with undivided attention. He was a free spirit who never felt like he needed to conform with the typical expectation of a 9-5 job. He had a wide range of interests and managed to have fun doing different things while supporting his family.  He loved his beer and cigars and would often slip back to the past in his mind and speak about memories of his service to our Country, fighting the Vietcong. He was on the front lines and fought like a Warrior. He was proud of that, and I was/am proud of him. He paid the price for his service and was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma many years ago. A disease directly related to his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. He fought this, just as he fought in Vietnam, with grace, dignity, and his typical sense of humor. He won that battle though due to radiation received during treatment, slowly lost the use of both legs and used crutches the rest of his life. He was brave, funny, and filled whatever room he was in with a palpable presence that others were drawn to. He was the last of his generation. Weeks after his death, he was followed by his Wife, my Aunt Jeanne. I will forever be grateful that she did not have to continue to suffer the agonizing, gut wrenching grief that fills your soul after the death of a spouse. I will miss them both very much. The picture attached is him with his Mother, Brother, and Sister. All long gone but never forgotten.

Happy hour on their patio after a magnificent sunset cruise. Cheers!

Here's another picture of Uncle Dan focused on being one with his boat. 

In 2004 Chris and I visited Uncle Dan and Aunt Jeanne at their home in Laclede Idaho on Pend Oreille Lake. Uncle Dan loved his boat and spent a lot of time on the lake. We had a fantastic time boating with them and their neighbors.  We cherish that visit. I will try to put a couple more pictures up of that trip. 

AVIS DE DÉCÈS

Daniel Ralph Brosseau

2 janvier 1943 – 20 décembre 2019

Bateman Carroll Funeral Home

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