Staff writer Allison Perkins is to be commended for the excellent writing in her tribute to Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew David Russoli, "Burying a comrade" (Nov. 2).

This letter is not intended to lessen the tribute to one of our fallen but to correct an error. She writes: "The Marines, the smallest and arguably the most tight knit of the four military services ..." That is incorrect. There are five, including the U.S. Coast Guard, a member since 1915. Its present-day complement: some 40,000, including active, reserve and civilian personnel.

Coast Guard Quartermaster Robert L. Resnick provided Marines Renee Gagnon and Ira Hayes the Stars and Stripes with the pole that was raised on Mount Surabachi on Iwo Jima. A Coast Guard fallen hero, SM1 Douglas A. Munro, led the rescue of 500 Marines from a beachhead at Guadalcanal in September 1942 and paid the ultimate sacrifice.
We're small in numbers, but large in service.

Darrell Lee Hayden
Greensboro

The writer is a commander, U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, retired.

Editor's note: While the U.S. Coast Guard has served, often overseas, in every war the United States has fought, it is a member of the Department of Homeland Security, not the Department of Defense.