Soldiers reunite to give Houston war hero final salute

[douglas9]

From the outside, 1st Sgt. David H. McNerney seems like any other aging warrior; his wars have become echoes, and he'd rather take his dog for a ride in his pickup than revisit them.

Only his soldiers are able to coax memories out of him, and through their eyes the story of the Crosby man's valor has become the subject of a documentary premiering today in Washington, D.C., at the GI Film Festival.

The 78-year-old, who defied death decades ago while saving lives on a Vietnam battlefield, will be there for the festivities and to say a final goodbye to the soldiers he still refers to as his “boys.”

Lung cancer, McNerney's doctors have told him, will soon claim his life.

“Everybody has to pass,” said McNerney, who has no children of his own. “It's my turn.”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7002678.html