A Marine's Take on the Meaning of Veteran's Day
by Jono Peters '10Opinion Contributor
November 13, 2009
Veteran's Day 2009. One of my proudest moments of my college career was not in the classroom, not on a sports field, and certainly not in Bundy. It was at Colgate. I, along with other Marine Officer Candidates out of Albany, had gone to a Colgate football game to see if we could entice some drunken lacrosse bros to do some pullups, and maybe join us in the service. We did not get the lacrosse bros, but we did have countless former Marines, Vietnam and World War II veterans come up to us and tell us how proud they were.
They weren't speaking just to us, however; they were speaking to every Marine, especially those currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's when I realized how special it is to be a part of this family; that's when I understood what it meant when, in training, we are taught to never let those generations of Marines down. If you take a look back at history, American military personnel have fought in the defense of this nation and for humanitarian purposes around the world. Oftentimes, this has meant going into harm's way and risking American lives for greater security abroad and at home.
It is truly amazing what the members of our military have accomplished and are still accomplishing today: the invasion of France on the beaches of Normandy, the battle for Iwo Jima, the defense of South Korea, the Gulf War, and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is more amazing is that when you thank a veteran for his or her service, he or she won't have an illustrious war story for you. He or she will simply say, "my pleasure." (They will definitely accept a beer when offered, though.) So this week, take a moment and say a prayer - and if that isn't your thing, pass a thought along. Whatever your stance may be politically or socially, be thankful for those who run to the sound of the guns.
I want to share this letter, written to the mother of a fallen Marine who was deployed to Ramadi, Iraq with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. It is about a young Marine named Jonathan Yale. For 234 years, the Marines have been defending our country and our loved ones. There is something special about these people who do so much and really do not ask much in return. They simply want the honor of being a United States Marine.
22 April 2008.
I know there is nothing I can write tonight that will help you deal with the loss of your son Jonathan. I do hope you can find some comfort as I try to help you understand what he was doing for every American when he was taken from us all. He was standing watch on a nameless side street in Ramadi at the entrance of a compound that housed a large number of Marines, Iraqi Police, and civilians. In the early morning a truck turned down towards the entrance and ignored the visual warnings he gave to stop.
Jonathan and the Marine he was with must have sensed immediately what was taking place as they went to the guns quickly and fired a very high volume of automatic weapons fire, undoubtedly killing the suicide driver, but not before he detonated the massive blast that took their lives. His fellow Marines did what Marines have done from the beginning of our history, something they do almost without thinking and always without hesitation - they risked their own lives to save his, but he was already gone to God. Mrs. Pride, because of your son and that other Marine, nearly fifty other American families are not mourning tonight; their sons' lives were saved by two Marines who would not abandon their post even to the point of death.
I did not know your son, Mrs. Pride, but I am sure he was just like every Marine I have known in the three decades and more that I have served. Like my own two sons who are Marines and have served here in this war, I bet he was a good looking young man, fun loving, into sports and a good son - but not perfect - boys never are. He was also different, Mrs. Pride, because he chose to leave the comfortable and safe confines of his home and walk a different path than all the rest. The path he chose led him to be one of the nation's finest, to be a Marine. When he did not have to raise his right hand and swear before his God to serve and protect this nation and its people, he did just that. We all owe him an eternal debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. We also owe you, Tammy, and all who loved him a debt - one that can never be settled.
I have 25,000 Marines under my care here in Iraq, and I fear for their lives every minute of every day as if they were my own. They are out there every day and every night patrolling the most dangerous places on earth for millions of people at home they do not even know. In times of weakness I wonder why they come, young men like Jonathan, why they come when no one makes them. When everything in our society seems to say "what's in it for me," those like your son think of others - not themselves. I did not know your son, Mrs. Pride, but I will never forget him. I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers for the rest of my life.
With deepest sympathy,
Major Gen. John F. Kelly, USMC