I wanted to share with you what we saw in Washington DC last week. We toured the Mall and made the usual stops at the WWII Memorial, the Wall, Lincoln Memorial, etc.At the Vietnam Wall we saw something unbelievable. We noticed three small index cards at the base of the Wall.
I knelt down for a closer look and noticed that a 4-star general's rank was pinned to each card.
The cards were personally addressed and said something like:
These are Yours - not mine!
With Love and Respect,
Your Platoon Leader,
Pete Pace
1 Oct 2007
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs had laid down his rank for his boys who died in Nam.
Oct 1 was the day he stepped down as Chairman.
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16 comments:
Where have all the men of honor as this gone?
Thanks for sharing this, OldSarge. America needs to see what real men of honor do.
Thanks for this.
It moved me deeply.
Semper Fi! General
Thanks for posting this, very moving!
In case you'd like a link of the video during the ceremony, here it is:
Pace Video
I cross posted this at Redstate. It's now the most recommended post.
Thanks Sarge.
Peter Pace, a Marines Marine, his sense of Marine Brotherhood will live on as it does in this honorable gesture.
Old Sarge, your post needs clarification. Is this a personal anecdote or a quote from another source?
If another source, what is that source and what is the source of the graphics?
That is deeply moving. God bless him!
I linked to this on my blog.
Thanks!
http://thebronzeblog.blogspot.com/
Thanks for posting this. I welled up in tears upon reading it, and linked to it on my blog, The Blue Boar (theblueboar.blogspot.com).
Semper Fi, Gen. Pace, from a fellow Marine and a fellow Catholic.
AMEN TO THAT SEMPERFI FROM A PROUD MARINE MOM
Bingo-
It's a CNN story. It's legit.
This act may be typical of marine brotherhood, but it does not seem peculiar to it.
It must not be original to the General either.
One can see James Cagney as Admiral Halsey in The Gallant Hours make a more personal gesture with his stars.
Cagney forsook all of his mannerism in this restrained and intelligent performance.
The films authenticity is also a credit to producer-director Robert Montgomery, who served under Halsey in the Pacific.
This is an extraordinary film.
“Halsey's job was to sit behind a desk in Noumea and direct a campaign while other men fought the battles. Rear Admirals Daniel J. Callaghan and Norman Scott were killed in the crucial series of night actions known as the Battle of Guadalcanal (Nov. 13-15, 1942), which turned the Jap tide from the shores of "Bloody Island." Halsey became a hero and a four-star admiral. He took off the pins with three stars on them, ordered them sent to the widows of Callaghan and Scott. "Tell them," said he, "that it was their husbands' fighting guts that won me my four stars."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,803564-4,00.html
Humility and respect are characer
traits of true and determined
leaders. Semper-Fi skipper.....
.....oooorahhh 5th Marines......
I researched this and my original source was Col John R. (Roger) Vick, USAF (RET). He is an area administor for the AFJROTC program.
Sarge,
I had the great privilege and honor of serving under General Pace at the Pentagon for his last 16 months of service. I traveled with him and heard him speak many times, both formally and informally. He has great love and feeling for the troops. Farinaro was the first Marine he lost in Vietnam and he kept a picture of him on his desk his entire career. General Pace can still name every man who died under his command.
This gesture seems completely in character with the leader I came to love and respect.
I cannot believe they let him go!
James
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