An email arrived this morning from Albert Flores Jr., a U.S. Marine Corps captain who lives in Sneads Ferry, N.C. It's about a chance encounter Flores had last year in a Southern California bar with Junior Seau, the former Chargers and Patriots linebacker who died yesterday of a suspected suicide. This is the email in its entirety, with slight edits made for publication:

On my final day of a business trip last year to the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., I was walking along the Oceanside Harbor in search of a place to eat and have a few beers. In the mood for something simple I had hoped to find a small bar that served food and was not too crowded. I came across exactly that—a small bar with maybe six customers inside. Sitting next to me at the bar were three large men of Samoan decent who were laughing and having a good time with the bartender. I wasn't sure at first, but then after a double-take it clicked in my head that I was sitting with Junior Seau. He was a monster of a man, wearing a ball cap and all smiles. I couldn't believe that I was sitting next to one of my favorite football players growing up as a kid. The same linebacker that I impersonated for years on all my football video games. After a few minutes, the older of the three Samoan men had asked what I was up to in Oceanside and I had told him that I was a Captain in the Marines headed back to my home station at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Junior Seau interrupted and said, "Wow, man. I really admire what you do. You guys are real heroes." Starstruck for a moment, I didn't know how to respond. Did one of my childhood heroes really just call me a hero? He did indeed, and refused to let me pay for my dinner or any more drinks for the night. I was surprised to find out that Junior Seau was not only a former member of the Patriots, he was an American patriot. Junior then introduced me to the other two men sitting with him, his cousin and his uncle. I couldn't believe how sincerely interested Junior and his family were about my military service. They asked about helicopters, machine guns, parachuting and even expressed gratitude towards military families and specifically spouses for enduring such hardship during a time of war.

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