This was sent to my friend, Kelleigh, by a Marine veteran, Cpl. Bill, in Port Arthur, Texas
At the Golden Triangle Veterans Memorial park on Hwy 87 in Port Arthur , Texas on Monday May 28th (Memorial Day) 2012. My wife and I arrived at 2pm as the band began to play and the service started at 2:30pm.
When we got there the pavilion was full but we were able to squeeze into the back left hand corner under the roof in the shade.
While the program was going on I was listening to a friend of mine, retired Colonel Chris Lamson, with 25 years active duty in the Marines and I looked over my right shoulder and noticed the old veteran setting on the wall. His wife had been holding the umbrella over his head and laid it down to stand up where she could see the speaker and hear what was being said.
When I turned to look the second time I noticed the Marine had stepped forward, picked up the umbrella and was holding it over the older gentleman.
You can tell by the shadow that only the left shoulder and arm of the Marine was in the shade. Notice his right hand behind his back standing at parade rest in full dress blues.
Not once did he flinch. The temperature forecast that day was predicted to be 90 degrees or more in the shade.
In Southeast Texas the humidity can also match the temperature.
If you have ever worn a set of dress blues you would understand how hot they are.
He stood there until the service was over. When it was over I walked up to him and said ” Thank you for such a kind act for the old veteran” He just looked at me and nodded as if to say, “it was my duty”.
As I walked away with a tear in my eye and my heart swelling it made me proud to know that the old traditions are still carried on.
It was 57 years ago this summer that I joined the Marines.
I pray that in my parent’s time of need and either spouse wasn’t there for each other or daughters were not near, they would experience the same act of kindness. Thank you to the gentleman who stepped in.
~~Mrs. P
Verklempt…Semper Fidelis
Semper Fi ! It will be 54 years for me, August 17th 1958, 17 years old. MCRD , San Diego … to the Marine Corps Field Music School to learn how to play drums in the Marine Corps tradition, MCRD Band, then 5th Marine Div Camp Pendleton. Marine Corps not only builds men, but spirit too, changing you forever into a Marine. I’d like to shake that interloper that calls Marines, “corpse”, you think with his superior intellect, BS, that he’d get that right, and I’d love to show this fraudulent Faux Prez, in the tradition of the old DI”s we had back then, how to do an “about face” and “salute” correctly, and then “forward march” right out the back door of the White House and keep on going come Nov. God Bless THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, and all my Marine Corps buddies around the world. Once a Marine , always a Marine ! Mr. Artist
Oorah! (And, to the guy who’s giving the appreciative comments a thumbs down, please enlist and go serve over in the war zone… maybe then you’ll understand.)
That will never happen with the thumbs down id10t… they only hide behind those of us who have served…
Def a good man!
God Bless our Military! past and present.
That shows the difference between a US Marine and those in Washington. I think our elected and appointed bozos should be paid what an E-1 gets paid.
Whoever wins this fall, send him that picture. If you were in the news biz, that would go into Pulitzer contention…
Thanks again to all who serve(d)…