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Gold Star family honors their fallen Marine Raider and son, Gunnery Sgt. Daniel Price

Posted at 5:43 PM, May 28, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-28 17:43:31-04

HOLLAND, Mich. -- Preparing a meal for 200 people at their Holland home Monday, Ruth and Karl Price remind us of their faith and the true meaning of Memorial Day.

The Price's eldest son Daniel dedicated the last nine years of his life to the Marine Corps, climbing the ranks as Gunnery Sergeant with the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC), which is now the Marine Raider Regiment. On July 29, 2012, GySgt. Price was killed in Afghanistan, serving his sixth deployment just more than one month after reenlisting.

"One of the guys at his funeral said that: ‘If you think one person doesn’t make a difference,’ he said, ‘the Battalion is less, the Marine Corps is less, because of Dan’s loss,'" said Ruth Price, Daniel's mother.

"He loved his job," said Karl Price, Daniel's father, "loved his job a lot."

In the words of his parents, Price was a role model big brother for his two siblings, and a hardworking high-achiever, beginning with his years in 4-H. When he was killed in action at 27-years-old, Price was planning to serve with the Marine Corps at least 20 years. When he was younger, his parents say he was motivated to enlist after the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"He was just, ‘You can’t just come on our soil and attack our civilians,'" said Price's mother, "he had a very intense sense of justice."

Using the letters Price wrote to his family and theirs, along with his Marine Corps records, Ruth Price recently published her book, "No Stray Bullets: The Making of an American Hero."

"I saved all of the letters he wrote me of course, I’m his mom," she told FOX 17. "But he also saved all of the letters that I sent him, which was a little surprising to me that he had those."

"It’s just Dan’s story, and our story and God’s story in how he cared for us, and how he prepared Dan for his military career, and how he prepared us for losing Dan, and for letting him go into the service.”

"Now we have sorrow, but we have hope that we’ll see him again," said Price's father.

"No Stray Bullets" is available on Amazon.com, as well as in Readers World Bookstore in Holland and the Reformed Book Outlet in Hudsonville. Price says a portion of her book's proceeds will be donated to the Marine Raider Foundation.