UPS Pays to Ship Huge Cross to Fallen Soldier's Family - kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and Killeen

(KCEN) -- The family of a fallen Marine got a special delivery this week from halfway across the country.  

It's a large cross built in honor of Lance Corporal Benjamin Schmidt.  

And as Robert Price shows us getting it to Texas wasn't easy.

It's not your average package.

At 10 1/2 feet high it's over six feet wide and weighs approximately 120 pounds.

As the packaging suggests it's a giant cross and employees of The UPS Store on Broadway are making sure it gets to it's destination safely, the home of Dr. David Schmidt.  

This weekend marks one year since his son, 24-year-old Benjamin Schmidt, was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.

Dr. Schmidt says, "Sometimes it seems like it's been ten years and sometimes it feels like it's been ten days."

Soon after Schmidt's death, his fellow Marines at Camp Pendleton in San Diego decided to build a cross for him.

"We wanted something to keep us busy, cause we were torn up and we were just like, we're gonna build him a man cross."  

They planned to put the cross on top of Old Smokey, a mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  

But the Marine Corps said no after a military atheist group challenged the presence of religious symbols on base.  

Member of the US Marine Corps Jeremy Laster says, "We were all really furious and upset and didn't understand." 

So Dr. Schmidt looked to see whether UPS might be able to ship it to Texas.

"I just called him out of the blue and told him what my predicament was and he said, 'We'll make it happen,'" says Dr. Schmidt.

It would cost about $1,000 but UPS decided to pay for it all.  

From San Diego to San Antonio the cross made it.  

"This is the real thing knowing Benjamin he'd probably say, 'why is it so small?'"  

Joking aside, the cross will soon make its permanent home on the family ranch in Gillespie County.

Thanks in large part to the kindness of strangers.

Adam Moskowitz of the UPS Store says, "We're just helping a family. It's not about just shipping something, this is about us giving something back.  What can you say? The world is full of good people."

The family says they'll probably put the cross up in a few weeks, when they can hold a memorial with family and friends.