WrrH THE 1ST MARINE DWISION IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM            65


completed preparations it moved into position in the detachment formation.
Gradually, the M60A3 tanks equipped with track-width mine plows, AAVs, and
armored combat excavators (ACEs) making up the detachment took their places.
Marine units along the Kuwait border fdllowed similar routines.
   The detachment's Marines kept their fears to themselves. A mixed unit of
combat engineers, tankers, and AAV crewmen (and one Kuwaiti liaison officer).
Most had been in Saudi Arabia since August 1990. They knew the faster they
got the Iraqis out of Kuwait, the sooner they would be on a transport going
home. All were aware that they were part of a great event. None more so than
Staff Sergeant David Shaw, whose fate symbolized the spirit and camaraderie
that existed among Marines in Saudi Arabia.
   At midday Staff Sergeant Shaw complained of stomach cramps. He knew it
signaled a reoccurrence of a heart condition. He avoided seeing a corpsman,
however, and attempted to hide the pain by resting in the shade of a portable
bridge. There he suffered a massive heart attack and a search party later found
him barely alive. While a team of corpsmen attempted to revive him, Shaw's
story came to light. Several years before, Navy doctors diagnosed Staff Sergeant
Shaw, an AAV crewman, as having an occasional irregular heartbeat. He fought
to remain in active service, went through physical rehabilitation, and eventually
was cleared for full duty. The doctors attached one restriction, Shaw could not
rejoin the Fleet Marine Force. Assigned to the AAV unit at Quantico, he
enjoyed being back with amphibious vehicles and expected to remain there until
retirement. In January, the need for additional AAV qualified personnel in Saudi
Arabia led to his volunteering and transfer to one of the casualty replace-ment
companies stationed at Camp 15 at Jubayl. While awaiting assignment, Shaw's
heart condition reoccurred and worsened. He managed to escape the findings
of a subse4uent examination by removing the disqualifying report from his
medical records. An urgent request for AAV personnel to crew vehicles combat
engineer unit led to his transfer to Task Force Papa Bear. Staff Sergeant Shaw
repeatedly told friends of his happiness at being back in a division and a part of
the coming battle. He died before the Medevac helicopter arrived.
   At first, the detachment saw his death as a bad omen for the beginning of a
campaign. When the story emerged, his desire to risk everything to be with his
fellow Marines in a great event created a deep sense of comradeship and com-
mitment among those in the detachment. Staff Sergeant Shaw's example remind-
ed General Draude of a speech from William Shakespeare's Henry the Fifth. On
the eve of Agincourt on Saint Crispin's Day, King Henry V said to his
soldiers: to?
          We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
          For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
          Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
          This day shall gentle his condition:
          And gentlemen in England now a-bed
          Shall think themselves accurst they were not here;
          And hold their manboods cheap whiles any speaks
          That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.