Semper Fi

Eight years ago when I was still at the young age of 48, the Marine detachment at the US Embassy here in Nairobi started a search for the oldest Marine living here in Kenya. They were going to have him speak at their annual birthday ball. I gave them my name and even went so far as to prepare a speech, but then they found a guy who was 54 living over here, and not only did I not get to give my speech, they didn't even invite me to the ball.

I went to a Marine Corps birthday ball once in Pensacola, Florida. It was a formal dress blue occasion and there was going to be an orchestra and a dance. There were two Marines that had been coming to church with me, Mark Sites and Arlen Slagter, and we all had dates, but only Mark knew how to waltz. He tried to give us a crash course in ballroom dancing so we wouldn’t look silly on the dance floor. Then after the dinner and the traditional cutting of the cake with a sword a rock band started to play and those who went up on the dance floor in their blues and gowns started bouncing around like jumping beans and they looked so silly that we decided we weren't interested and left early.

To this day I still don’t know how to dance, and it’s probably just as well, but on this most auspicious occasion of the 235th birthday of the greatest fighting force the world has ever known, American Flyer is honoring the United States Marine Corps. I love the Marine Corps, and I love Marines.

I was an aviator. I was one of those bold enough and reckless enough to have taken a fast moving airplane, land it on a slow moving boat, come to a complete stop in a hundred yards, and then say, "That was fun, let's do it again." No one was any more proud than I was the day I pinned on those aviator wings of gold, but the achievement I am most proud of took place on 16 April 1982, when I completed Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia, pinned on the gold second lieutenant bars, and became a Marine.

The Marines are, as some have said, a breed apart. The élan, the can-do attitude, the "esprit de corps" of the U.S. Marine is unparalleled anywhere in the world. It is a brotherhood that one who has never put on the uniform can never fully know or understand.

There are three basic characteristics that I think make the Marine Corps what it is. The first is honor. From the first commandant, Major Burrows, to the "Old Man of the Corps," Archibald Henderson, to the genius of General John A. Lejeune, to such colorful figures as Howlin' Mad Smith and the Marine Corps' own legend, Chesty Puller, to General Robert Barrows, who was commandant when I became a Marine, to P.X. Kelly, whom I had the privilege on one occasion of meeting and shaking his hand, to the current commandant, the legacy of the Marine Corps is honor.

It has been our honor to be the "first to fight for right and freedom." It has been our honor through hail of bullets and artillery shells to plant the American flag on foreign soil. It has been our honor to drive out tyrants and put a stop to aggression. It has been our honor to account for our fallen comrades and bring their bodies home. It has been our honor never to have known defeat. It has been our honor never to have had a My Lai massacre or any other stain on our record. Our honor is clean.

The second is devotion to duty. No matter what he is called upon to do, a Marine always does his duty. From the early Marines in the rigging of the ships, to Presley O'Bannon and the five Marines that captured Tripoli, to those Marines who marched into the Halls of Montezuma and captured Mexico City, to John Mackey, the Marine Corps' first medal of honor winner, to Sergeant Major Dan Dailey who won the medal of honor twice and lived to tell about it, to the devil dogs of Belleau Wood, the leathernecks who fought in the jungles and on the coral beaches of Pacific islands, who landed at Inchon and fought their way out of the frozen Chosin, to those who stood at Khe Sahn and Hue City, who went to Grenada, Beirut, Kuwait, Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, Marines have always done their duty.

They've done it no matter what the odds or circumstances. They've done it when they were alone as at Guadalcanal. They've done it when they were deserted by others as at the Chosin reservoir. Marines have always been there when called upon, and have always crossed the FEBA (Forward Edge of the Battle Area) on time. Americans rest easy when the Marines are on duty because they know that when the Marines have landed, all is secure.

The third characteristic is the camaraderie and brotherhood of the Marine Corps. A few years ago I read a book that I recommend to all of you entitled, "Flags of Our Fathers." It is the story of the six men who raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima, 23 February 1945. They were led by Sergeant Mike Strank, who on the eve of the invasion, turned down a promotion because he had promised his squad he would take them through the battle. When he was killed his men gathered around him and wept. One cradled his lifeless body in his arms and cried, "I wish it could have been me." Mike Strank received the greatest compliment a Marine could ever receive when it was said of him, "He was a Marine's Marine."

It is men like Mike Strank, men of honor, men of character, men with resolve, men with love of country and comrades, men with courage, men who have earned the right to be called one of "the few and the proud;" it is men like family and friends of mine that have served; men like Al Goosman, Bob Epperson, and John Mitchell; it is men like the Marines I have known who have made the ultimate sacrifice, men like Frank Young, Don Flatley, Jim Hoban, Robin Helton, Jamie Richards, Tom Kolb, Mike Watters, Mark Gelagan, and Bryce Gearhart; and it is the Marines who are serving today that have made the Marine Corps what it is, the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.

It is a history, camaraderie, and a brotherhood that I am proud to be able to say that I have been a part of. To all Marines everywhere, Thank you, Happy Birthday, and SEMPER FI.