gunnyg
10-03-02, 11:21 AM
Return To Henderson Hall....
by Dick G
Dick G (Login Dick Gaines)
Forum Owner
I recently had occasion to return (briefly) to Henderson Hall (HqBn HQMC) after an absence of some 40 years. Was in the Laurel, Maryland area that week, and drove down to Arlington on that Sunday afternoon, stopping by at HH for only a few minutes time.
As I expected, the old HH known to me, of numerous white, wooden buildings no longer exists; in their place is a group of red brick buildings, etc. The only objects I saw that could possibly have survived from the old days, are the gatehouse and swimming pool (maybe).
I had forgotten that the Navy Annex sits so close to the Pentagon--on the way in I observed first the Pentagon coming into view, and then the blackened, gaping hole where the aircraft had impacted on 9/11/01!
Went by the War Memorial initially, was also surprised that the figures in the familiar replacement flag statue appeared to be not as large as I had remembered them to be.
Also, I next proceeded out to Columbia Pike, in Arlington, and was again surprised, to see that the old street of my many liberties was still much the same as I recalled in my days there from 1959 till 1962.
It occurred to me, as I observed these things, that I could never have conceived of myself, now in my mid-sixties, standing on that same ground now in the year 2001, and seeing the things I was seeing.
Life is strange.
Freedom is not free, it must be won anew by each generation.
My brief visit on last Sunday afternoon brought back many memories of my time there, and I may write this up in more detail at a later date.
Dick Gaines
20 Oct 2001
by Dick G
Dick G (Login Dick Gaines)
Forum Owner
I recently had occasion to return (briefly) to Henderson Hall (HqBn HQMC) after an absence of some 40 years. Was in the Laurel, Maryland area that week, and drove down to Arlington on that Sunday afternoon, stopping by at HH for only a few minutes time.
As I expected, the old HH known to me, of numerous white, wooden buildings no longer exists; in their place is a group of red brick buildings, etc. The only objects I saw that could possibly have survived from the old days, are the gatehouse and swimming pool (maybe).
I had forgotten that the Navy Annex sits so close to the Pentagon--on the way in I observed first the Pentagon coming into view, and then the blackened, gaping hole where the aircraft had impacted on 9/11/01!
Went by the War Memorial initially, was also surprised that the figures in the familiar replacement flag statue appeared to be not as large as I had remembered them to be.
Also, I next proceeded out to Columbia Pike, in Arlington, and was again surprised, to see that the old street of my many liberties was still much the same as I recalled in my days there from 1959 till 1962.
It occurred to me, as I observed these things, that I could never have conceived of myself, now in my mid-sixties, standing on that same ground now in the year 2001, and seeing the things I was seeing.
Life is strange.
Freedom is not free, it must be won anew by each generation.
My brief visit on last Sunday afternoon brought back many memories of my time there, and I may write this up in more detail at a later date.
Dick Gaines
20 Oct 2001