Fallen Royal Marine Had A "Hart" Of Gold

David Hart loved his friends.
The 23-year old Royal Marine from York, England was killed by a bomb in Afghanistan last year, but he was determined to make sure his friends continued partying in his memory.
Prior to being deployed, Hart took out a 250,000 pound (roughly $400,000) life insurance policy on himself, with some stipulations: if he was to die in action, $150,000 of that policy money would fund a trip to Las Vegas for his friends. $80,000 would go to various charities, while the rest of the money would go to his family.
According to one of his friends, Hart adored his “lad’s holidays” throughout the year, which helps make sense of choosing to spend his policy money on a Vegas bash. It was a personal dream of sorts for Hart, being able to send his friends to Las Vegas to remember all the good times they shared together. $150,000 may seem like a lot for a party, but not when you take into consideration Hart is sending 32 of his friends along for the trip. That’s quite a lot of international plane tickets.
Why is this “good news?” Well, for one, it’s a touching example of friendship. Along with his note describing where his money was to go if he died, Hart said he had “no regrets” about his life, and instructing his friends to “go and have a good time and spend all this money.” His friends say he always said he wanted to do something like this if he died while on duty as a Royal Marine.
Considering that Hart’s party fund is a sizable portion of his insurance policy, it’s also likely that he didn’t have a wife and/or child to support… if he had, reactions to this story would have been much more negative in tone than they have been. If he had a wife and child and chose to use most of his money to send his friends to Vegas, that would obviously make people upset. Instead, it’s merely a story of friendship and the bonds that we hold with people we love.
If you’re still not convinced that this is really “good news,” consider this: Hart funding a trip for many of his friends to Las Vegas could in turn serve as a fitting “celebration of life” ceremony for him. His friends said he loved his vacations with them, so what better way to celebrate the memory of a fallen friend than by doing what you loved doing WITH him when he was around? Sounds pretty ideal, doesn’t it?