File under reasons to love Prince Harry (as if you needed another): People reports that the royal tearfully accepted the dog tags of a fallen U.S. Marine outside Buckingham Palace, yesterday.
The deliverer was Kirstie Ennis, a wounded former Marine who was taking part in the Walk of Britain, a thousand-mile journey around the U.K. to support veterans' charities. Ennis was injured in 2012 when her helicopter crashed in Afghanistan; she has gone through 38 surgeries and three years of therapy. She was supposed to have her left leg amputated over the summer, but delayed it so she could make it to the U.K.
At the end of the walk, the veterans gathered at Buckingham Palace with Prince Harry, who sponsored the event. Ennis gave him the dog tags of TJ Baune, a corporal who died in 2012 after being hit by an IED. At first, she had planned to leave the tags at the palace, since she had left other dog tags throughout Britain, but decided to seize the moment and give the final set to Prince Harry. "No I can't, I can't accept this," he said. "Please, you know what this means to me, I want you to," Ennis said, and then the two shared an emotional hug.
Harry apparently had helped her lay the dog tags in a few other places. "Prince Harry has become a dear friend to us and [a] genuine advocate for our militaries," she wrote on Instagram, adding that she'll "always be indebted" to Baune's family for giving her strength during her recovery.
She then stopped by Princess Diana's memorial and left a white rose in her honor.
From: ELLE US
