Marine Killed Hours After He Made Poignant NYE Post

Marine veteran Matthew DeRemer, 31, who served in Iraq, wrote one final Facebook post before setting out on his motorcycle in Florida on New Year's Eve to ring in 2016. And its message, which has since inspired many shares and likes, turned out to be chillingly poignant: "I look back at 2015's huge challenges that I've overcome, shared with others, and have once again found myself... To say thank you and BRING ON 2016, much works to be done! I really don't know where I'll end up tonight, but I do know where I windup is where I'm meant to be." Hours later he was dead, hit by an alleged drunk driver in Largo, Fla., reports People.

DeRemer, who left the Marines in 2010, had done a lot in 2015—including getting a new job as a surgical technician, deepening his faith, and renewing his resolve to be more selfless, reports NBC News. "He was like a magnet for people," his sister said at an impromptu memorial at the intersection where he was struck. "He touched a lot of people’s lives," Wayne Gutierrez told TWSP. "Sometimes those are the ones that get chosen first." Steven Clarke, 59, was arrested at the scene, charged with driving under the influence, manslaughter, and failure to yield right-of-way, and released on bail the next day, according to court records. (This mom, meanwhile, left a final letter that began, "The bad news is, apparently, I'm dead.")