Overcome with emotion. Prince Harry was deeply moved after a U.S. Marine gave the dog tag of a fallen colleague to the royal on Sunday, Nov. 1, at Buckingham Palace.
Marine Kirstie Ennis had just finished a 1,000-mile marathon trek for charity through Britain with five others when she presented the royal, 31, with the dog tag. Ennis herself had been severely injured in a 2012 helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
The royal, 31, gave a hug to Marine Kirstie Ennis as she presented him with a dog tag from a fallen Marine. Ennis, 24, who was severely injured in a 2012 helicopter crash in Afghanistan, walked 1,000 miles through Britain along with five other people.
While Ennis was scheduled to have her injured leg amputated this summer, she instead decided to embark on the brave journey. When she presented the treasured dog tag to Harry, he got visibly choked up.
“No I can’t, I can’t accept this,” he said, nearly in tears.
However, Ennis urged him to take it. “Please, you know what this means to me, I want you to,” she told Harry.
The tag honored Corporal Baune, originally from Minnesota, who was killed in Helmand Province in 2012 after his unit was hit by a blast.
“1000 miles in 72 days!” the Kensington Palace Twitter account tweeted, showing a pic of Harry and Ennis embracing. “Huge congratulations @supportthewalk #WalkofBritain veterans on your incredible achievement!”
1000 miles in 72 days! Huge congratulations @supportthewalk #WalkofBritain veterans on your incredible achievement! pic.twitter.com/XxUu80deor
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 1, 2015
Just last week, Prince Harry met with President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss his involvement with the 2016 Invictus Games — a sporting event for injured active duty and veteran soldiers — and his campaign to assist wounded veterans.
While there, the younger brother of Prince William, who served the Armed Forces for 10 years, also recalled his own experience fighting. “In February 2008, at the end of my first tour in Afghanistan, I traveled home on an aircraft carrying three seriously injured British soldiers and the coffin of a Danish Soldier,” he told reporters at the White House. “From that moment, I was committed to doing all I could to ensure that those men and women, who had sacrificed so much for their countries, would receive the recognition and support they deserved.”
