Goodspring, Tennessee, US
United States Marine Corps
LCPL, Weapons and Field Training Battalion, Parris Island , South Carolina
Lady’s Island, US, 07/05/2008
You asked about personal information about my son. The first thing I would tell you is he was my rock. I have 4 children. I truly believe that each child in a family plays a different role. Jason was a wise old soul in a young man’s body. He is the one who always helped me figure out the path to take. Being a single mother for most of their growing up years, I relied on him a lot for a sounding board – I miss that so much! He was a very intelligent young man who also had ADD. Because he was determined to become a Marine from the time he could say Marine, he chose to take the harder path of not taking medication because he knew it would keep him out of the Corp. This led to a lot of struggles for him but he stayed true to his course and achieved his goal.
Jason was a good Marine – not always an angel… but always a Marine. He was hard headed, stubborn, he played hard, fought hard, loved hard and partied hard. Oorah! Jason was also an artist, the walls in his room are covered with his sketches. He loved guns, his motorcycle, his truck, his family and fun! He was so proud of being Irish that he had the Davis family crest on his back. He had 6 tattoos in total. He also was a true friend – he would give the shirt off his back if you asked and he had a special place in his heart for children – he was so patient and gentle with them. He loved to laugh and act silly – he was the clown of our family.
Two stories about Jason –
When he was 16, he got the typical ‘I’m too old for you to tell me what to do” attitude. (Didn’t we all?) You have to know that at this point I was a single parent of 3 boys and a daughter. I had to be strict to keep all my ducks in a row. We had just moved into our new house. I tried to get him up one morning to go to school and he decided that he did not need to go. I kept telling him to roll out of the bed. He got tired of this and got up, locked his door and went back to bed. So of course, I started pounding on the door telling him to get up. I threatened that if he did not get up I was going to break the door down and drag him out of the bed. Well, my son proceeded to tell me that “Moma, you aren’t bad enough to knock that door down and drag me anywhere.” Before he got that statement out of his mouth, the door was on him in the bed and I was on top of the door! In the process, his nose was broken. But guess who got his tail out of the bed and went to school? His bedroom door has never been right since that day! The only reason I tell you this is because Jason told every friend, girlfriend and even his DI’s at Parris Island that he had the baddest Mom in the world cause she had broken his nose! I was ashamed and felt terribly guilt about breaking his nose…he was PROUD!
When we brought Jason to Pulaski for his service before proceeding to Arlington, 6 of his buddies from Camp Pendelton flew in for the service. They had all been with Jason on both deployments to Iraq. When they 1st met me, they had 2 questions. #1- did I really break Jason’s nose? His brothers and sister were very happy to verify that for them. #2 – Did I really teach all my boys how to use condoms? Being a former paramedic and seeing what AIDS could do – I did teach all of my children about safe sex and the use of condoms. These guys just busted out laughing. They all said that they had thought he was making that story up. They then proceeded to tell me that Jason’s favorite pick up line with the ladies was, ” You are safe with me, my Moma taught me how to use condoms!” They said that because of that – he was the “Stud” of their group and all the girls flocked after him. The guys declared me a “Gangster Mom” and started calling me Gmo. I am still Gmo to all of them and to my 2 grandsons.
Lastly, I would like to tell you about Arlington. My parents took my children to Washington on vacation when Jason was 8. When they were at Arlington, he came running up to my Mother and said, “Maw-maw, I have made up my mind. I am either going to be a General or be buried right here.” He never forgot this decision. It was included in his deployment will. Even though I hate having him so far from me, we honored his wishes and on his 23rd birthday,(July23) almost to the minute of his birth, we laid him to rest among heroes, where he so rightly deserves to be.
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