A decade later, fallen soldier McMullen fondly recalled
Jimmie Gladwell remembers it like it was yesterday.
He drove the fire truck carrying the casket from Salisbury to Arlington — a cavalcade stretched nearly two miles behind them.
Along the route, people young and old waved flags. Signs could be seen on businesses the entire way, all offering tribute.
They passed fire trucks with their ladders raised to make an arch, an American flag hanging above. When bagpipes played "Amazing Grace," Gladwell cried.
“Everywhere we went on the route, there were people,” Gladwell, an assistant chief with the Salisbury Fire Department, said. “It was just a testament to the brotherhood of the fire service.”
And it was a testament to Michael McMullen’s life.
Michael Joseph McMullen, a National Guard Sergeant, died 10 years ago this past January.
The 25-year old was injured in battle in Iraq Christmas Eve 2005. He died about two weeks later, on Jan. 10, 2006, from those injuries.
"They don't always come home," Gladwell said.
A life lost too soon
McMullen was a firefighter paramedic for the Salisbury Fire Department. And to this day, he’s missed.
"You just know that he was going to grow up to be a quality contributor to society," Gladwell said. "The world is a lesser place (without him)."
Gladwell was sitting at home on Christmas Eve 2005 when he got the call that McMullen had been injured, he said. His friend was brought to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. And every day he wasn't working, Gladwell made the drive to see McMullen until the day he died.
Gladwell was there that day. He came dressed in his uniform, a gesture of respect for his friend's final moments.
The room was quiet, he remembers. McMullen had been pulled off the machines sustaining basic life function.
On Jan. 10, Gladwell watched McMullen quietly slip away.
But McMullen died the way he lived — helping people.
He was injured in the war saving someone's life, Robin McMullen, his mother, said. The man he rescued was 36-year-old Sergeant Randal Divel, who sustained second- and third-degree burns, according to the Arlington National Cemetery website.
“He died doing an amazing thing," Robin McMullen said.
Helpful from an early age
Even 10 years later, McMullen's legacy remains strong.
McMullen, from the time he was a kid, did all he could to help anyone who needed it, his mother said.
“He was always willing to help neighbors," she said. “Any neighbor needed any help, Michael was right there."
If someone was sad, McMullen tried to make them smile. He'd do something goofy, she said, to cheer them up.
"That’s what he enjoyed doing. He liked being there for people,” Robin McMullen said.
That's the man Gladwell remembers, too.
He met McMullen when he was a goofy teen. He was just a good human being, he said.
Before McMullen's deployment, the two grew close. Gladwell met his mom, and considered her like family.
"There wasn't much that we didn't do together," he added. "He was just a damn good person."
McMullen spoke his mind, Bryan Records, another assistant chief with the fire department, said.
Records remembers a general meeting they all sat through, where the chief was talking about grooming rules in the department. McMullen wasn't afraid to point out the chief's mustache went against policy, something that gave everyone a good laugh.
“We all got a chuckle out of it,” Records said.
But under that silly, loving layer was a man who had incredible respect and drive.
It's something Records could see right away.
“You can always tell the ones that have the military," he said. "They just carry themselves in a different manner."
McMullen was always dressed well. His shirts were tucked in, his hair was in place. He had what Records calls the "spit and polish" look.
READ MORE: Learn about other Delmarva residents who have served their country
What he remembers most was McMullen's dedication. Not everyone has that.
McMullen spent more time than most honing the craft, Records said.
“Mike was a good guy, he said. “It was a big loss for us. It was a pretty big shock for a lot of our guys."
'They don't always come home'
It's been a decade since the McMullen family lost a son.
But for Robin McMullen, those years haven't dulled the hurt.
“It still feels like it was just yesterday that it happened,” she said.
Since that day, each year they celebrate McMullen's life during Memorial Day weekend.
It was always an important weekend to them. McMullen's birthday — May 27 — typically fell over the holiday. But now, Memorial Day "means even more," Robin McMullen said.
Every year, when she said she was in better health, they used to go up Arlington to see the grave. They'd have a party for him, releasing balloons at 3 p.m. in honor of his memory, she said.
“It’s a very subtle heartwarming day to remember not just my son but everyone else," she said.
Gladwell too keeps McMullen's memory alive.
He and his wife used to go up and decorate the tree near his grave near Christmas. Pictures of his fallen friend are placed throughout Gladwell's house.
His two young children know the man in those photos as "Uncle Mike."
Gladwell knows the kind of person McMullen would have been with his two girls. He knows the goofy, fun times they would have had.
"There's a lot of things that Mike's missed," he said.
Namely, he missed getting the opportunity to grow up, he said. His life, at age 25, was just starting.
Gladwell wanted to see what McMullen was going to do in his life. Somehow, he said, he knows it would have been something great.
"Who knows how many lives Michael would have saved?" he said.
The fire department hasn't missed a Memorial Day service at the Civic Center since McMullen passed, he said. His absence is a constant reminder of what people in the service do for the country.
Gladwell didn't think the last time he saw McMullen would be the last time ever.
"He was just a wonderful human being," Gladwell said. "I miss him."
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