LCpl. Thomas Zapp (KIA)

(reprinted from KHOU.com, November 17, 2004)

Marine laid to rest after paying the ultimate price for his country

A Houston Marine has been laid to rest amid tears and full military honors befitting a man who died fighting for his country.

Could anything be more mournful than the sound of taps on a dreary day? Not for a nation at war. For it signals the final passing of another of America's sons from home, to war, and somewhere beyond.

Wednesday, they gathered to memorialize the loss of Marine Lance Corporal Thomas Zapp, who, in just two years, went from the playing fields of Elsik High to the killing fields of Falluja.

Last week at Elsik, the students, teachers and coaches remembered the kid they new as Ti, who, as it turned out, gave up college baseball for a war zone.

"I talked to him about maybe going to college, and would he consider that. And he wouldn't even consider it," said Robert Copley, Elsik baseball coach. "The Marine Corps was what he wanted to do."

Wednesday morning, as friends and family filled St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Sugar Land, it was Thomas Zapp the soldier whose picture was there to remember.

And now, for most, a picture is all they have left. The flag-draped coffin, the synchronized salutes and the silent ceremony of fellow Marines brought that reality home.

Thomas Zapp's decision to serve his country, rather than enjoy its fruits, exacted a final price.

That was a price he was willing to pay. But for his parents, his family and his friends, price of life, no doubt, seemed more than anyone should be asked to pay.