SEAL of Honor (4 page)

By this time Maureen had changed her clothes and descended the five stairs to the landing. Visibly shaking and now covered with perspiration, she saw the officers in full dress uniform standing on the other side of the outer glass door, their uniform brass glistening under the porch lights. Lieutenant Commander Muse and Commander Coyle were in their dark uniforms and Lieutenant Widenhofer was in his summer whites. She instantly saw the SEAL Trident on Muse’s uniform. Before the men had even spoken a word, she took a step back as her knees buckled and she yelled, “No!” John reacted quickly and braced his mother from falling.

Father Coyle immediately tried to comfort her by telling her “all we know right now is that Michael is missing. We don’t know anything else. Michael is missing.” Terrified, she looked first at Father Coyle for several seconds and then took a deep breath before apologizing for her actions and invited the men into her home. All three men removed their uniform caps as they stepped inside. It was Father Coyle who introduced himself, Muse, and Widenhofer. After directing everyone to the living room, Coyle turned his attention to Maureen, now visibly trembling, and assisted her into the room. There, he encouraged her to sit, but she was too nervous to sit and remained standing. Each of her visitors, all consummate gentlemen and professional military officers, remained standing until Maureen apologetically asked them to be seated. Each responded with a thank-you but remained standing close to her, as did John. John shouted, “It’s the helicopter, isn’t it. It’s about the helicopter.” Father Coyle replied calmly, “No, Michael was not on the helicopter. He was on a ground mission and right now all we know is that he and his team are missing.” Muse then briefly explained his professional relationship with Michael and in very general terms went over the mission that Michael was leading, and answered Maureen’s questions. Again, Father Coyle attempted to get Maureen to
sit down, and once again she declined politely. All remained standing while Father Coyle led everyone in prayer.

Following the prayer, Widenhofer more fully introduced himself and informed Maureen that he also needed to contact Michael’s father. Maureen cleared her thoughts, reoriented herself to the present, and made the call to Dan, who was at his home, just a ten-minute drive away. In a deliberately slow and calm voice she said, “Danny, the Navy is here saying that Michael is missing in Afghanistan. Do you want me to send them over to your house?” Stunned, Dan could only exclaim, “What!” After repeating herself more slowly, Dan’s thoughts were immediately taken back to the two earlier conversations with Heather. He asked Maureen to keep the three men there and told her he was on his way. It was just after midnight.

On his way, he called his sister Maureen and her husband, John Bogenshutz. He asked his sister if she had “heard about the helicopter that went down in Afghanistan.” Maureen said yes, and became immediately more alarmed as she detected the strain in Dan’s voice. “Michael is in Afghanistan ... he was not on the helicopter, but he was on a mission and he is now missing. The Navy is over at Maureen’s house and I am going there now,” he told her. Maureen told her husband about the call. Both were deeply concerned. After several minutes of silence and staring at the ceiling, it was clear to her that she would be unable to sleep. Full of anxiety and frustration, she looked at her husband and said, “Well, this isn’t going to work. I can’t just lie here. I think we have to go over there.” Within minutes they were in the car and on their way. As he drove to Maureen’s, Dan replayed the day’s conversations with Heather over and over in his head. He turned into the driveway, slammed on the brakes, and rammed the transmission into park while opening the car door, then jumped out and closed the door in a single motion. Hearing the car door close, all three Navy officers rose and looked at the front door just before Dan burst through it and came into the living room.

Lieutenant Commander Muse then went over the same information previously given to Maureen and John, and introduced Lieutenant Widenhofer and Commander Coyle. The Murphys drew some comfort and a glimmer of hope from their words. Without confirmation, there was always hope, they believed. As Widenhofer finished, John and Maureen Bogenshutz arrived, and Widenhofer again went over the information that was known.

Around 12:30 AM, Maureen telephoned Heather and her family. She then called her sister Eileen Hillicke in Wilmington, North Carolina. Eileen, who was Michael’s godmother, booked the first available flight for later that morning. Maureen also called her neighbors and close personal friends Tony and April
Viggiano and neighbors Joe and Benilde DeCabo, who arrived within minutes, as well as her cousins John and Linda McElhone. Linda was Maureen’s closest friend and confidante.

She also called her nieces Cathy, who was in college in Ohio, Colleen, who was at her home in New Hampshire, and Kelly, who lived in nearby Huntington on Long Island. The Murphys were particularly close to the girls as they had raised them after their father Billy Jones, Maureen’s younger brother, died of cancer. Cathy and Colleen left immediately for Long Island, while Kelly arrived within the hour.

The three Navy officers and the family members remained with the Murphys for the next three hours, leaving them just after 3:30 AM. During that time Father Coyle led everyone in prayer on multiple occasions. Although not everyone in the room was Catholic, all were Christians, and prayed for His will to be done; they believed that His will included Michael’s safe return to those who loved him. Muse gave the family his hotel address, room number, and the room’s telephone as well as his personal cell numbers, and all three officers promised to return later that morning. Dan too left for home, but there was very little sleep for any member of the Murphy family on that night.

By the time everyone retired to their homes and hotels, Michael’s status was still unknown, but one thing was clear: both the Murphy and Duggan families were blessed with an extensive support network—military and civilian—a support system that became both necessary and sustaining in the days that followed the initial news. After strong encouragement from those arriving, Maureen finally agreed to surrender her attempts to meet the emotional needs of those gathered around her and allow them to begin to meet her needs and those of Dan and John as well.

CHAPTER TWO

—MAJOR STEVE BECK, Casualty Assistance Calls Officer (CACO), United States Marine Corps, quoted in Jim Sheeler,
Final Salute

H
aving only a few hours of sleep, Maureen called the O’Callaghans at around 8:00 AM. Jimmie and Owen O’Callaghan, who also lived in Patchogue, were lifeguards with Michael and were his best friends. She remembered that Michael had told her to call Owen and Jimmie if anything ever happened to him, that they would “take care of everything.” They arrived within twenty minutes.

As promised, arriving at about 9:00 AM in their dress uniforms were Lieutenant Commander Muse and Lieutenant Widenhofer, who remained for the rest of the day. Muse made frequent telephone contact with NAVSPECWARCOM, although most of the calls were very short. With Muse tied up with NAVSPECWARCOM, Widenhofer answered questions in between television news and updates from the Murphys’ many extended family members and friends. Desperate for information, any information, the Murphys relied on the public news media despite their tendency for reporting unverified information as truth. The Navy, on the other hand, would only provide information that was properly verified.

The Murphys followed the Navy’s advice and directed all media inquiries to the Navy’s Office of Public Information. Always attentive to the needs of others, Maureen insisted that both Muse and Widenhofer return tomorrow in comfortable street clothes; both agreed. After a midmorning telephone call to NAVSPECWARCOM, Muse related that at least two helicopters carrying Navy SEALs responded to Michael’s call for help. One helicopter was hit by an RPG and the other was forced to abort the mission, and there had been no further contact with Michael’s team.

Having just arrived at work, Beth Risotto received a call from Jimmie O’Callaghan telling her of Michael’s status. Being a close friend of Heather’s, she called her, but without having to ask, she knew that Heather was aware of the situation. Leaving work, she went to the Duggan home in Mount Sinai, located directly north across Long Island from Patchogue, where she stayed for the next week.

The next day the Murphy family had begun to mentally sort through the information they had received and also accept the fact that the worst possible news could be coming. The O’Callaghans assumed the duties of managing the overwhelming number of telephone calls and personal messages and donations; but despite their best efforts, there was no way to keep track of those who had called or sent contributions or dropped off food items. The dining room table was completely covered with fruit baskets and the living room full of flowers and planters. The kitchen table and counters were covered with food donated by caring individuals and businesses. As the national and international media intensified its coverage of the events in Afghanistan, local media had begun camping out at the Murphy home. In Mount Sinai, in between news broadcasts, Beth and Heather spent their time taking walks and telling “Murph” stories and returned to the Murphy home each evening.

After speaking to NAVSPECWARCOM, Lieutenant Commander Muse explained to the Murphys that the Navy was tracking a single beacon moving down the mountain. Tentatively, Maureen asked, “So is this good news for the SEALs or for the Murphy family?” Cautiously, Muse responded, “The Murphy family.” While both exhaled with some relief, they knew that the relief was only temporary. Maureen turned to Dan as they realized that there appeared to be only one survivor and stated, “It’s not Mike. It’s not Mike. There is no way he would be the only one out.” Dan and Maureen realized that Michael’s character and integrity would not allow him to be the sole survivor. They knew that he would sacrifice himself to allow someone else to be the sole survivor, but it was simply not in Michael to be the only one out.

Muse explained that Michael and his team had been involved in an ambush. As Dan and Maureen processed the information they had received, Dan recalled his military training in Vietnam and asked if Michael’s team had been ambushed or if his team had executed the ambush. He knew that if Michael’s team had executed the ambush that they would have set the stage and environment in their favor—at night, with proper positioning and other tactical advantages. If they had walked into an ambush, that would not be good. Dan and Maureen continued to pray for the best but began to prepare themselves for the worst as the gravity and reality of the situation became more and more clear.

Around noon, Captain Andrew Bisset, a thirty-seven-year Navy SEAL veteran and Michael’s SEAL mentor, called to invite Michael to his upcoming retirement party in Groton, Connecticut. The family did not take his call; they believed it was another member of the media trying to get a family member on the telephone. Well acquainted with the family, Bisset was confused. He was aware of the situation in Afghanistan but did not know that Michael had been involved.

Again having received very little sleep, the family attended morning Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, led by Father Robert O’Connell. Special prayers were offered for Michael, his team, and the entire Murphy family. They were overwhelmed by the expression of support from the more than twelve hundred parishioners in attendance. Following Mass, Dan and Karen went to Heather’s home. The Navy had previously dispatched Lieutenant Jim Quattromani to stay with the Duggan family. While they were there, Heather received a telephone call from Marcus Luttrell’s younger brother Morgan, who stated, “Marcus is all shot up! Marcus is all shot up!” The news devastated Heather. Jim took the phone from Heather and continued the conversation with Morgan. Morgan provided no additional information about Michael or any other member of the team. This did not go unnoticed by Jim or Dan, who just looked at each other but said nothing. Dan resigned himself to the inevitable but remained mentally torn. As a prosecutor, he was used to looking at a set of facts, analyzing and organizing them together in a logical sequence, reaching a logical conclusion. A simple straightforward process he had done for many years. However, as a father, he could not bring himself to the logical conclusion the facts showed him. To do so was unthinkable.

Having returned to Maureen’s home and the nearly one hundred family members and friends gathered there, Dan and Karen repeated the previous day’s routine. Rosary prayer vigils were constantly held as family members and friends worked and prayed in shifts. Early in the afternoon it was announced that Marines had rescued Michael’s teammate Marcus Luttrell, and the names of the Navy SEALs and Army Night Stalkers killed on the helicopter were released.

Captain Bisset called again, but this time Maureen took his call, and after several questions she was satisfied that he was the “real” Captain Bisset. She told him of Michael’s status, and he took several seconds to regain his thoughts. He reassured her that Michael was well trained and that if anyone could make it, Michael could. Maureen agreed. Even though the family was mentally and physically exhausted, the prayers continued. At one point Dan’s sister Maureen noticed him with a set of rosary beads, the same rosary used by their mother when Dan was seriously wounded in the jungles of Vietnam thirty years earlier.

At about 2:00 PM, the family turned the television to CBS, as word had been received that there were news reports that two dead Navy SEALs had been recovered in Afghanistan. The family questioned Muse, who made an immediate phone call to NAVSPECWARCOM. Muse was told that the information being reported was not confirmed and that the Navy believed “someone was jumping the gun.” Dan and Maureen, now desperate for information and despite being warned by the Navy to the contrary, began paying increased attention to the news reports as it appeared that more information was available, despite the media’s reputation for releasing unconfirmed and sensationalized information as fact.