A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.

"Your son is here," she said to the old man.

 She had to repeat the words several times   before the patient's eyes opened.

Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed
Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out   his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed.All through the night
the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward,holding the old man's hand and offering
him words of love and strength.Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away
 and rest awhile.

He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of
the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night
staff members exchanging greetings,the   cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held
tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had
been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.

"Who was that man?" he asked. The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.
"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."

"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"

"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his
son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick

to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."

The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay.