Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The Few The Proud The Marines

Today marks the 234 Birthday of the United States Marine Corps! Happy Birthday Marines.

Semper Fi



1 comment:

  1. Its not always that you get a chance to spend time with one of "The Few, The Proud, The Brave"...and yet i've been honored to have been in the midst of two Marines in my life...

    Claude Griggs - Congressional Medal of Honor for his unit in shooting down the first zero at Pearl Harbor who went on to Guadalcanal and Bloody Ridge earning a hand full of silver and bronze stars now kept hidden from view and idle talk in a shoe box...Claude doesnt say much other than..."you cant hurt steel"...smiling, now 86, and yet when he says this the look from his cold blue eyes are just as young and strong as they were when he was 17. Were proud of Uncle Claude but like many Marines he doesnt say too much and like many, awaits his last days so that he can finally...lay his battlefield memories down...

    Scott Shepard - What i know of Scott comes not from harrowing tales of the battlefield or his death defying, early dawn run to Baghdad with the men from his unit...it comes from spending time with him, always a Marine of course, but as "just a man" wanting to do something even greater with his photographic skills for good...to be used in another type of battle where peoples lives hang in the balance for clean water, warm shelter and endure back breaking work and the daily struggle to survive a 6 year drought who simply was born in a different place than you or I...

    Over three weeks I watched a burly "Ex" Marine...a human being renewed, who found time to play with scores of rag tag children who hung on the arms of this towering hulk of a man, laughing with him, playing games with him, watching his ever move and for a brief moment the children, laughing out loud, forgot their thirst, the empty feeling in their stomach and for a moment this Marine could forget the unfairness of life in the northern deserts of kenya...

    Scott will remember those days...and I know, they'll remember him...

    While I can never understand the agony hes witnessed, that which hes heard and felt while on the battlefield in Iraq and in the quiet moments and private places in his spirit, yet I can say that I've had the honor of seeing, hearing and feeling this Marines beating heart for others less fortunate in this world and for this...i have been blessed beyond measure...

    Scott you are a champion among men and I am so very proud to know just the small parts of your life which you've shared with me in Kenya and I am equally honored that you've shared moments with me...on the road less travelled...

    For your service, from my family to yours, Thank You Sergeant Shepard.

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