"I've already assured their commanding officer down at Camp Lejeune that as soon as they touch down at Logan, they'll become my responsibility," Maureen O'Haire said, with far more maternal pride than D.I. swagger.

When you have brought five children into this world, adopted four more and nurtured some 50 foster kids, opening your heart to another 25 boys is no problem - especially when they formed the circle of brothers who were with Lance Cpl. Walter "Gator" O'Haire at the moment of his death in al Anbar province a year ago.

Maureen O'Haire has invited her son's platoon up to Boston to march in Sunday's St. Patrick's Day parade. "This is my way of saying `Thank You' not only for what they did for my son," this Rockland woman explained, "but what these amazing kids do for all of us, each and every day.

"I want people to honor the sacrifice they've chosen to make," O'Haire added, "but much more than that, I'd like people to think of them not just as soldiers, but to see each one of them as a mother's son."

To accomplish this, Maureen O'Haire was not willing to wait on the government and all its red tape. She told the brass at Camp Lejeune that she would take care of all the plane tickets, hotel rooms and transportation around the city.

Hell, Maureen has even commissioned the banner that the men of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Divison will carry through the heart of Southie on Sunday.

She has, in fact, choreographed an entire weekend of activities beginning with the potluck buffet dinner tomorrow evening at the VFW hall in Rockland, to a Mass at St. Vincent's Church in Southie's Lower End, where Walter and his eight siblings spent their early childhood.

Walter O'Haire was six days shy of his 21st birthday when he was killed by a single shot to the head on May 9, 2007. He had been in Iraq for only six weeks. His mother recalled a middle child who was his own force of nature, a perpetual motion machine she christened with the nickname "Gator" after a cartoon show about a mischievous imp called "Wally Gator."

"He was a character," she chuckled, "who never, ever slowed down. Even as an infant, Wally could always find a way to wiggle out of his car seat, even with every strap buckled tight.

"He promised my husband just before he died two years ago that he would become a Marine one day," Maureen recalled, "and I think the happiest day of his life was when he marched across that parade field as a Marine."

There is a wonderful poetic irony about sharing this St. Patrick's Day with her son's Marine brothers. For it was just a year ago, mere days before he shipped out to Iraq, that Wally "Gator" O'Haire decided he had to experience one more Southie parade. So, on a weekend pass, he made a breakneck journey in a battered Honda from North Carolina up to South Boston.

"We were sure they were going to toss Gator in the brig," his mother laughed, "but somehow he managed to make it back in time."

The idea to invite her boy's Marine brothers "home" for this moment took hold back in November when Wally's platoon invited the O'Haire family to spend Veterans Day at the Marine base.

"It was their way of honoring my son," Maureen said, "and it touched our hearts so much. My son and daughter both said then and there that we had to bring these guys up here to celebrate, to laugh and maybe shed a tear with us. Like I said, from now until forever, they'll always be `my guys.' "

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