“Miracle Marine” Dies After Beating All The Odds - With Video
As sure as there is God in Heaven, he is guarding the Streets of Heaven today…
A Marine who survived being burned over more than 95 percent of his body in Iraq and established a charity to help burned children has died, the military has announced.
Marine Sgt. Merlin German, seen in May 2007, died last month of complications after surgery.
Sgt. Merlin German was 22.
He was severely wounded February 21, 2005, en route to Camp Ramadi when his Humvee hit a roadside bomb.
He was not expected to survive, but he was transported to Germany and then to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, which has the U.S. military’s top burns unit.
He spent nine months in intensive care and underwent more than 100 operations.
German moved out of the hospital into his own home after 17 months of treatment.
He founded Merlin’s Miracles, a charity that aims “to assist burned children and their families to take vacations, trips, outings or anything the families needed to make life a little easier,” according to its Web site.
German died April 11 at Brooke Army Medical Center of complications after surgery.
“He beat all odds and then on top of that continued to serve as an inspiration and motivator for others,” said Dr. Evan Renz, a critical-care surgeon who treated German.
“It is very difficult to describe the sense of loss. He endeared himself to all he came in contact with. It’s really impossible to describe, except to say: Imagine the loss of dear family or friend.”
Renz remembers being impressed with German from the start.
“This young man was clearly showing us signs he was going to fight through this from the very first minute,” he said.
“There was consensus he was going to be a someone who would probably break some of the previous expectations about survivability. If someone was going to survive, he was going to be that individual.”
Click here to visit Merlin’s Miracles Web site.
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This kid was an inspiration to many people. For a guy who lived such a short life, he lived it well. There are alot of “Merlins” at WRAMC and in Bethesda and scattered throughout the VA and military medical system. They drive on, push forward, adapt and overcome. Such is our military.
They’re all heroes.
Prayers for his family and friends.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:46 pmRest easy, sleep well my brother.
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:14 pmKnow the line has held, your job is done.
Rest easy, sleep well.
Others have taken up where you fell,
the line has held.
Peace, peace, and farewell!
A man’s man…God Speed!
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:45 pmSemper Fi, Marine.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 pm
in a just world he would be alive, and the “people’ who did this to him would be burned. RIP 
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:29 amHero.
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:17 amBe at peace Marine.
Be with God.
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:23 amJuxtapose this story with the pimp video posted by Bash, and you could rightfully end up in a state of confusion that you can’t get out of. This young man, Merlin German, was unbelievable! I watched the video clip from CNN, got totally choked up, then went in his Merlin’s Miracles website, read some of the lovely messages people left there, and then made the mistake, and I knew it was a mistake, of looking at that pimp video.
I honestly feel most days like this entire culture is psychotic. Merlin German and men and women like him positively blow my mind simply because it’s like they live and breath completely outside the culture, ANY culture! It’s not that pimps have no place in their worlds, it’s that pimps DON’T EVEN EXIST IN THEIR WORLDS. THERE IS NO SUCH THING!
My goodness, peace be with him and his remarkable parents.
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:40 amGod bless you Merlin
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:48 amWhat an incredible young man. What a testament to the man he was as is shown in the video. I pray his legacy lives on, and he continues to give hope and strength to our injured military. I read of him yesterday and it brought tears. Thankfully, no one was around when I viewed the video just now. My condolences to his family over their loss. We mourn with you.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:07 amAnd another thing: the word courage is bandied about these days, applied to the likes of Barack Obama, for his latest attempts to put his association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright behind him. That somehow repudiating and denouncing the Reverend’s rhetoric took an admirable step of courage on the part of Barack Obama.
Again, juxtapose the application of the word courage in the Obama scenario with the works and mindset of 22 year old Merlin German, and please tell me which one manifests courage.
Is it me? Have I gone off the rails?
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:35 amRest in peace devil dog.
B
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:38 amKerry:
WTF? I think your ‘right’ brain and ‘left’ brain are both hemorrhaging
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 amThis poem came back to me as I thought of Sgt. German. It is not about the warrior on the field of battle but of the man inside the uniform.
….
Today I smiled, and all at once
Things didn’t look so bad.
Today I shared with someone else,
A little bit of hope I had.
Today I sang a little song,
And felt my heart grow light.
I walked a happy little mile,
With not a cloud in sight.
Today I worked with what I had,
And longed for nothing more,
And what had seemed like only weeds,
Were flowers at my door.
Today I loved a little more,
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:53 amAnd complained a little less.
And in the giving of myself,
I forgot my weariness.
His final mission complete and successful …
Marine Sgt. Merlin German has been called home.
God bless.
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:28 amHeartbreaking. He paid the ultimate price, and fought even when everything looked hopeless. Semper Fi, Marine, you have regrouped with all of the other fallen heroes in Heaven.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:59 amMarine Sgt. Merlin German
His service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.
Sgt. German completed his mission both on and off the battlefield. May he rest in peace.
Prayers for his brothers, loved ones, and family until they are together again.
It is men like Sgt. German that give us the courage to go on no matter what we are faced with.
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:53 amthank you Sgt. German.
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:59 pm