PDA

View Full Version : Warriors share respect, experiences



fontman
06-25-06, 12:06 PM
Warriors share respect, experiences
June 25,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF

Purple Heart recipients can be a self-deprecating lot.

They claim to be a step slower than their comrades, unable to duck or dive out of the way in time. So they get shot, or blown up, or injured in some other way in the fog of war.

Next thing they know, they are in the hospital and someone is giving them a medal, the kind it's impossible to win. When you earn a Purple Heart, you always lose something.

But what you gain is perhaps stronger: membership into a band of brothers who have left something of themselves on that battlefield and returned with a scar and a story. Some don't return at all.

On Saturday, about 250 Purple Heart recipients gathered at the American Legion Hall in Jacksonville to break bread together, a tribute to the sacrifices of their comrades in wars as old as America. World War II veterans mingled with those who have fought in Iraq.

And it may be the first such banquet.

"It's the first time this dinner has ever been held in the U.S., as we know of," said Roger Kneisley, a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart's Beirut Chapter and the banquet's organizer. "It's just a get together to say, 'Here we are, thanks a lot.'

The banquet was designed for recipients alone; even spouses were asked to abstain. They ate, drank and smoked fine cigars as they exchanged war stories. Most of the attendees were active duty Marines who came to the banquet out of respect for their forebearers and curiosity.

"I wanted to see what it's like, what they had to say about (the Purple Heart)," said Lance Cpl. Kenneth Rolon, a Marine with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines who was shot in the right arm by a sniper in Fallujah.

Being a Purple Heart recipient is something Rolon said he will never forget.

"I think about it every day," he said. "I see my scar on my arm."

The Purple Heart is the oldest merit medal in the United States military. Established by George Washington in 1782, it originally was a badge of merit. The Army brought back the Purple Heart in 1932, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt applied it to rest of the service in 1942, retroactive to 1917.

"There is a bond," Kneisley said. "Nobody wants this award and you don't win it. … Everybody in this room has been wounded, shed their blood in combat for this country."

1st Lt. Sam McAmis, a Marine with 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance who was wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq, said he came to the banquet out of respect for the older veterans.

"We have a chance to talk to Purple Heart recipients from almost every major conflict," he said. "I think it's a great opportunity for those of us who didn't duck quick enough to talk about the things we had to go through."

Besides the bonding, Kneisley said it's a special opportunity to reach out when the retired guys get a chance to mingle with the active-duty Marines and sailors.

"They are going to need help," he said. "We know how to work the (Veterans Affairs) system now. We're here trying to take care of the young guys. That's what we old farts do."

Keynote speaker Lt. Gen. James Amos, the commander of II Marine Expeditionary Force, told the gathering to think about their brothers still fighting in Iraq.

"There is a price that's being paid in the global war on terror, and the currency is the blood of our young men and women," he said. "That's not a criticism, that's reality."

Then he quoted from Shakespeare's "Henry V," telling them about a scene when the king meets with his fellow warriors on the eve of battle.

"Those who shed your blood with me shall be my brother …," Amos said. "That's what you are here tonight, a band of brothers."