Happy Birthday, Chesty

Caracas, Venezuela
November 10, 2001

The Marine Corp War Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery shows the flag raising on Iwo Jima on 23 Feb 1945, near the end of World War Two. Of the six servicemen pictured, three would later be killed and two wounded in the continuing battle. The photo won a Pulitzer Prize for photographer Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press.

The triumphant brass band notes blare from the speakers, sounding John Philip Souza's tribute to his Marine Corps, Semper Fidelis, the motto of the Corps, meaning, "always faithful."

United States Ambassador Donna Hrinak looks on as four Marines, resplendent in their dress blues, bring forward a huge cake with the USMC's emblem: the eagle, globe and anchor.

Around me sit some 100 persons, all embassy staff here in Caracas, Venezuela. We gather under a tent on the chancery grounds, eschewing the normal evening gala ball for a more low-key and secure venue. The world we live in changed since last year celebration. The anxiety hangs in the air like the Venezuelan humidity.

The Marine Corps turned 226 years old today; founded on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia, PA. This marks thirteen times that I have celebrated this day as a Marine and now former Marine. The traditional birthday message from General John Lejeune, the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, emanates from the podium:

"...This high name of distinction and soldierly repute we who are Marines today have received from those who preceded us in the Corps. With it we also received from them the eternal spirit which has animated our Corps from generation to generation and has been the distinguishing mark of the Marines in every age."

Lejeune referred to the intangible spirit of our Corps: valor, honor, duty.

Since Vietnam, people snickered or rolled their eyes at such terms, as if the concepts themselves stood withered. At best, perhaps a quaint anachronism in the 21st century, in our modern world of global capitalism and the borderless internet.

Until September 11th, 2001.

In an instant, bravery, selflessness, sacrifice, and courage, became revered, not ridiculed. People of honor existed all around us, as firefighters, police and doctors, just waiting for the crucible of crisis to emerge. All of this televised for the world to see.

The stage of satellite TV and 24-hour news portrayed the anonymous, yet antagonist groups: those who serve and those who destroy.

We became a community again; and service to community once again became an honorable undertaking; instead of one left for those sad-sacks who did not become lawyers, consultants, investment bankers, or internet millionaires.

Traveling outside my country during this time gives me a strange new perspective as the vivid images of the September 11th atrocity fade. No fear of anthrax mail or a car bomb permeates my day. Instead, I worry about pickpockets and bus crashes and finding a clean hostel. Fellow travelers talk of other things. The war news comes in ephemeral bite-size morsels, never filling and quickly forgotten.

Sitting there at the embassy, itself sovereign US ground, listening to the words praising the battle history of the Marine Corps and the country of which it is but a microcosm; I realized the importance of a regular reminder of these intangible qualities. For I once counted myself among such men and women in service; believing in my heart in duty, honor, Corps, and country

I realized how cynical part of me had become over the past few years. How much I forgotten about the person I want to strive to be. But it is never too late to renew vows and rededicate oneself. A reminder is all it takes.

The words themselves are mere shadows of the true virtues they so inadequately describe. Virtues which still permeate our nation, our community, and our spirit; without which, human civilization is not possible. Our world needs these virtues, not the mere caricature of words, but the decisiveness of behavior and action, undertaken by each of us.

In describing the Marines fighting the battle of Iwo Jima in the closing stages of World War II, Admiral Nimitz, Commander of the Pacific Theater, said, "uncommon valor was a common virtue.

Perhaps we Americans, as the most influential nation on Earth, can revise that for the 21st century to read: "Uncommon compassion was a common virtue."

*"Chesty" is Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller, a legendary Marine with five Navy Crosses for valor, USMC 1924-1955.

Also jump to "Letter to America" my travelogue from 6 March 2003.