Just beautiful, Kent, just beautiful. We owe him so much.Your photos are a tribute to him and his service. God Bless him. Thanks so much for posting. You got my vote.
anthonysemone wrote:
Just beautiful, Kent, just beautiful. We owe him so much.Your photos are a tribute to him and his service. God Bless him. Thanks so much for posting. You got my vote.
Anthony
Thanks Anthony,
I spent a little time talking with him ... HUMBLE beyond HUMBLE. "I just did my job, like the rest of us out there." "I just did what I was told." And it wasn't so much the words that he said ... it was the WAY he said them. He was also a Merchant Marine delivering ammo to the troops.
No war stories. No bravado. And, it seemed like he wanted to thank me, more than I could thank him. HUMBLE beyond HUMBLE.
He was funny, too. He said that people would ask him where he was going for the day, to which he would tell them. "Wherever my nose leads me." and just grin.
I wish I would've captured his genteel grin. I was just too engaged with him to dare interfere with such a genuine moment.
You can make book on his hands talking, Kent. How did you happen to make contact with him, just happenstance? How did you approach him? While I had my camera with me on day in local CVS, I saw this old guy, from a distance I saw an elderly gentleman, seemed to be favoring his right side, and he had a USMC ball cap on. I walked over another aisle, got a better look at the front of, and it indeed was inscribed USMC, Korean War Veteran, and then - and I thought I'd fall over, in smaller letters, the bottom line read "Frozen Chosin."
He had survived those 17 or so days of the most ungodly conceivable combat and weather and starvation conditions imaginable. I shook his hand, thanked him for his sacrifice and his commitment, his honor and his courage. He said, "Well, Marine, just like you,* I was only doing my job. The real heroes are all the ones who never came back so that I could." and, he had at least one tear at the corner of his eye. God Bless him for sure... near as I can figure, if my math is right , he'd've been 17 or so at the time. I didn't have the courage to ask him for a picture. My wife asked me when I got back to the car, why did I look like I had been crying.
I hope you get to take more pictures of him, Kent, and if you do, post em up.
*(I pushed papers in a Regimental Intelligence Section of the 3rd Marines eight years later on Okinawa and the closest I came to combat was escaping Shore Patrol out of a restricted area in Futenma. I won't add further details about why it was restricted. )
Escaping Shore Patrol
I know why it was "restricted" ... it's always the same reason (or two).
"I didn't have the courage to ask him for a picture."
I'm right there with ya ... somehow it takes the courage of a battalion and turns it into a big puddle. Can't quite explain it ... but, I understand it. The things that make men cry ... something about knowing what a brother has done for ya.
I met him by happenstance, as I was walking out of Chipolte's. He was sitting there on his scooter, decked out to the nines, looking patriotic. You could just tell that his days of "inspection ready" were still with him to this day.
It is always easy for me to genuinely say "Thank You" to a senior combat vet. As I get older, they get fewer around if you know what I mean. That, and his dress was comment worthy ... so dapper (even sitting on an electric scooter). I mean, that's like trying to look cool in a minivan ... but, there he was knocking it out of the park.
What an extraordinary tribute to him you've given. Outta the park, for sure. And "inspection ready" is absolutely true. WOW. Feelin' good, absolutely, just looking at him.
Yes, at least one reason, most often two. But I was only there, Sir, to make sure my fellow Marines stayed within the lines (there's other language for that, but I'll "stow it.")
SWEET Kent. God bless him. You totally capture him with the respect he so deserves. I spent a couple of months at MCAS Futenma before going to HMM 165 in Subic Bay.
Just before I got out we had a Sgt/Major that had severed with Chesty Puller and was one of the Frozen Chosin.
"We are completely surrounded. The simplifies the situation. We can fire in any direction"- Chesty Puller
Kent, I'll be eager to see them. Should you ever encounter again this Warrior, you can advise him of the many 100's who have remarked at his incredible presence and bravery and gratitude.
anthonysemone wrote:
Robert, and thanks to you as well, Sir.
Kent, I'll be eager to see them. Should you ever encounter again this Warrior, you can advise him of the many 100's who have remarked at his incredible presence and bravery and gratitude.
Oh, believe me ... if I see him again. I'll be very eager to share with him everyone's appreciation for him.
