DALLAS — Marine veteran Michael Carnell often preferred to wear a heavy chain around his neck, a padlock securing the 22 heavy links as a reminder of the number of veterans estimated to take their own lives in the U.S. every day.
That's why he joined the outreach efforts of the One Tribe Foundation which tries to reduce that disturbing statistic through veteran-to-veteran counseling.
And, with the thick Boston accent that he brought to Dallas, he would also proudly offer his voice to Carry The Load and its efforts to honor the true meaning of Memorial Day as it also raises money for non-profits like One Tribe.
"And while I'm beyond honored to give this speech, it brings back good and bad memories for everybody," Carnell said at the 2021 kickoff event for Carry The Load.
He was chosen to give a presentation about " The Table for the Fallen." A round table covered with a white cloth and a single-place setting, it's a traditional reminder of the military and first responders who are no longer with us.
"The place setting, it's single. There, alone. There's no friends. There's no family to dine with," Carnell said. "It needs to be told. It needs to be remembered. It needs to be done with honor. We have to live life to the fullest. We have to have a full heart. Strive to be better today than we were yesterday, and live in their honor."
"I'm very lucky to have returned home from every deployment that I've been on. But others are not so fortunate," he said as he and attendees at the Carry The Load event raised a glass in honor of those they have lost.
But Carnell's own good fortune ended on February 2 of this year. A Marine, fighting to the very end, in a three-year battle with cancer.
"Michael Carnell was one of the strongest people mentally and emotionally that I had the honor and privilege of knowing and calling my brother," said friend and fellow Marine Jacob Schick, a fellow Marine and the CEO of One Tribe Foundation. They marched together every Memorial Day at the Carry The Load events, even last year with Michael's health failing.
"He showed up and he was so sick. And he'd been fighting that point for three years," Schick said. "He was the epitome of what it meant to serve people above self. And that was Mike."
"Mike lived the example daily. And he truly loves the men and women that that table represents," Schick said.
And on a Wednesday in McKinney, Jacob Schick and the employees of SRS Distribution gathered, with a Table for the Fallen in the center of the company lobby, as SRS donated $50,000 to the One Tribe Foundation and Carry The Load cause.
"Somebody's got to do it, right," Schick said in a short speech to the SRS employees. "And if not us who and if not now, when?"
The group also marched around the SRS McKinney campus as a preview of the Memorial Day events to come and as a tribute to souls like Michael Carnell.
"Michael believed in right things, right reasons, bad days are guaranteed, and God will take care of the rest," Schick said. "He did it with vigor and conviction because of how strongly he believes that they need to be honored."
And Michael's words continue to do just that.
"To all our brothers and sisters, we knew them well," Carnell said in his last Carry The Load speech about the Table for the Fallen. "We will remember them. And they will not be forgotten."
"We owe it to guys like Mikey," Schick said, "to live well. Every day. Not just on Memorial Day. But every day."
To learn more about the Carry The Load Memorial Day and "Memorial May" events you can find additional info here.