Spartanburg Herald Journal -- When Marine Lance Cpl. David Paul Lindsey called home from Iraq Thursday night to banter with his parents and sisters they never dreamed it would be the last time they heard his voice.

His father, Mike Bishop, said they received word at 10:45 a.m. Friday morning their 20-year-old son had died from a gun shot wound to the head.

"It's wonderful we had that opportunity to talk to him last night because within the next 12 hours, he was dead," Bishop said.

The 2005 Spartanburg High School graduate had been stationed in Iraq as an infantryman with the 3rd Battalion 6th Marines since early January and was scheduled to return home in August.

Mike Bishop said he had served as a Lt. Col. in the army during Vietnam, and his son had always wanted to follow in his footsteps and join the military.

"That's what boys in this family have always wanted and always done," Bishop said. "He was proud to be a Marine and proud to serve."

'Sleep in peace'

Bishop asked his daughter, Rachel Baxter, 28, to pull out a letter Lindsey had sent home on January 30th; after he had been in Iraq 17 days.

"That's a real picture of David," Bishop said.

Rachel Baxter's voice caught as she recited from the letter: "We have been watching Flags of our Fathers. It's about the Marines on Iwo Jima and the flag-raising on top of the mountain. I tell you where the U.S. troops were outnumbered and had the disadvantage but still went face to face with danger and still took the objective; those men and women are true American heroes (like pops). I know Vietnam was bad, but that didn't stop Dad. And this is my promise to y'all. Iraq is bad, but it isn't going to stop me (like father, like son.) I'm out here on the front lines so y'all can sleep in peace tonight."

Lindsey's three other sisters, Shawna Cowart, 25, Mary Lynn Bishop, 25, and Natalie Hickman, 30, huddled around her in the driveway of their family home on Fairlane Drive, hanging on to each word as she read.

"We've been looking though pictures today and found one of David when he was seven or eight dressed up as a solider in Dad's old cammies," Baxter said.

"He and Dad were best friends," Hickman said. "They did everything together, even errands. There probably isn't another marine out there who called his parents as much as David did. He called far more than his sisters and I ever do."

A family forged by unconditional love

Lindsey entered the Bishop's home at the age of six when they unofficially adopted him because his biological family was unable to take care of him.

"It was a rough beginning," Baxter said. "He needed parents so badly the moment he walked in our home he started calling them mom and dad, but for the first couple of years, he kept testing mom and dad to make sure their love was true."

She said they kept telling him over and over that he would always be a part of their family, and as Lindsey became comfortable in his surroundings, he blossomed, forming a deep bond with his family.

"He was a real homebody," Hickman said. "Boot camp was hard for him because he couldn't call. If he could, he'd call every day."

Hickman said Lindsey had to miss her April 28 wedding to her husband, Michael, but he was included in the program as a groomsman in abstentia. A yellow ribbon tied around her bridal bouquet paid special tribute to her little brother.

Baxter began to cry again as she explained she had made a "David-cam," recording the entire day to send him on DVD.

"He'll never get to see it," Baxter said.

"That's the hardest part, that he won't be a part of our everyday lives," Hickman said.

Be there

The family ended their last phone-call with Lindsey the way they always did.

"We say we love you but we also say "be there," as in "be in heaven;" and he is there," Cowart said.