David A. McMaster

David A. “Mac” McMaster left us on May 28th, 2021, and is now standing guard in heaven. At age 18 he enlisted in the Marine Corps and turned 19 in a remote mountain gun emplacement in Vietnam. He celebrated his first Marine Corps birthday while there, and never forgot the sight of a helicopter hovering while a Marine jumped out and brought he and his three fellow grunts a piece of Marine Corps birthday cake. After his enlistment was up, he entered college and graduated from the University of Washington. He then went back into the Marines, eventually retiring as a Marine Corps Captain. He had over 24 years of service to our country, and when people thanked him for his service he would say, “It wasn’t always a pleasure, but was always an honor.” It is perhaps fitting that he left us on Memorial Day weekend, as he always honored those fallen Veterans. To him that day meant so much more than a three-day weekend. Many people knew him around town as the Marine who, with a scrappy bunch of guys from the Daniel B. Bartle Marine Corps League, saved the Whatcom Memorial Day Parade. He also proudly served several years as the local community officer for Whatcom County Toys for Tots. During that time, he taught many people to loudly project the Marine Corps “ooh rah”. We would be at a stoplight in town and suddenly we would hear “ooh rah” from a car next to us. He leaves behind his wife Betty (Cruikshank) McMaster; brother-in-law Bob Cruikshank; daughters Jennifer (Chevalier) Morgan and Susie Chevalier; granddaughters Mikela Puig and Alina Puig; niece April Cruikshank; and his two beloved furry kids Summer Day and Angel Mae. He is also survived by his sister, Christine Ann (McMaster) Dietsch, and her two daughters, his nieces, Coleen Dietsch-Krubl (Athens, Ohio) and Cairon Dietsch-Jones (Chicago). He was so happy to be Uncle David to Alexa and Brynne Dietsch-Jones and John Carlton and Lisbeth Dietsch-Krubl. He was preceded in death by his older brother, William (Bill) E. McMaster, Jr.; and his parents, Lt. Colonel William (Mac) E. McMaster, Sr. and Christine (Wilson) McMaster. Thank you to all the caring medical providers that kept this Marine alive in spite of all of the health issues that Agent Orange gave him. And a special thank you to Phillip Carroll and Jose Ledesma, two young Marine Veterans that would come visit him and listen to his stories about the Marine Corps when he could no longer get out to meet them elsewhere. He enjoyed their visits tremendously. Mac’s ashes will be placed at Greenacres Memorial Park (5700 NW Dr Ferndale) on Friday, September 10th, 2021 at 2PM in the Veterans’ Section.

David A. McMaster

October 23, 1950 - May 28, 2021