thedrifter
09-04-08, 05:57 AM
PUBLISHED ON Wednesday, September 03, 2008 AT 11:25PM
Semper Fi: Soldier's dying wish honored
63 years after his passing, a Marine who died at Iwo Jima will have a new headstone dedicated
by Erin Snelgrove
Yakima Herald-Republic
When Cecilia Marsh thinks of her brother, she remembers a laughing 17-year-old who played trumpet and bellowed patriotic war songs.
Like many of his friends, Calvin "Bill" Conner enlisted in the Marines during World War II and missed much of his senior year at Yakima High School.
The following winter, he was one of 26,000 Americans killed during the Battle of Iwo Jima. He was only 18.
"It's all history, and there's nothing you can do about it," said Marsh, who was 11 years old when her brother died. "But it's still hard."
Sixty-three years later, Marsh and her husband, Roy, are fulfilling Conner's final request to have the Marine's Motto, "Semper Fidelis," engraved on his headstone. It means "Always faithful."
"If you believe in God and heaven and someone looking down on you, he wants Semper Fi," Roy said.
A talented artist
To this day, Cecilia can clearly picture her brother. She remembers Conner playing with her. He was a talented artist, who drew life-like portraits of the '40s pin-up girls. And like the rest of his family, he was a regular church-goer.
His mother was worried when he enlisted, but knew she couldn't change his mind. When he died on Feb. 21, 1945, she couldn't truly accept that he was gone, Cecilia said. Instead, she kept his memory alive through a keepsake box.
In that wooden box, she stored letters he wrote and received, a newspaper clipping of his obituary and his dog tags. It's where she stored his drawings, the flag that covered his casket at Terrace Heights Memorial Park and his numerous medals, including the Purple Heart.
Cecilia said her mother couldn't let go of the belief that Conner would one day walk through their front door. For that reason -- and because she didn't see any evidence to the contrary -- she believes her mother never looked at the artifacts or read the letters.
Cecilia, too, carried on this tradition when she inherited the box after her mother's death in 1971. For decades, she kept the box tucked away in her basement.
Only in recent years has Cecilia begun to examine the box's contents.
"I think I can handle it until I see a letter I hadn't seen before," she said. "Then I start crying and I can't read it."
During one of these explorations, Cecilia and her husband found a poem Conner wrote. In it, Conner expressed his wish for the Marine's motto, "Semper Fidelis," to be inscribed on his headstone.
A strong message
At first, the Marshes couldn't decipher Conner's handwriting. But later, after typing out the passages, the message began to resonate with them. With the help of Cecilia's younger brother, they took action a couple of months ago and ordered a new headstone.
To commemorate its arrival, the Marines are hosting a graveside memorial service at the cemetery on Sept. 20. It will include a rifle salute, a flag-folding ceremony, the reading of Conner's poem and the playing of "Taps," the most recognized of all military bugle calls.
The Marshes hope Yakima Valley veterans -- especially those who served at the Battle of Iwo Jima -- will attend.
"What he said in the poem really means something to the Marines," said Roy, an Army veteran himself. "Semper Fi needs to be on there. I didn't know (Calvin). I never met him. But I know Marines."
* Erin Snelgrove can be reached at 577-7684 or esnelgrove@yakimaherald.com.
Calvin's Poem
Someday the band will softly play
while a flag-draped box goes by,
and maybe someone there will wipe
a tear out of his eye.
But, if no tears are shed for me,
it matters not, nor will,
when I have reached my rendezvous
on ocean, lake or hill.
If only I can earn the right
to have my headstone read
the two-word motto of the corps,
that's all that I will need.
Semper Fidelis.
-- Pvt. Calvin William Conner, United States Marine Corps
* A copy of the poem is on display at the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve at 1702 Tahoma Ave. in Yakima.
Memorial service
* WHAT: The Marines are hosting a graveside memorial service to honor Pvt. Calvin "Bill" Conner of Yakima, who died at the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II.
* WHEN: 10:30 a.m. Sept. 20
* WHERE: Terrace Heights Memorial Park, 3001 Terrace Heights Drive, Yakima.
* WHY: Conner's family is honoring his last wish by ordering a new headstone with the Marine's motto, "Semper Fidelis," engraved on it.
Ellie
Semper Fi: Soldier's dying wish honored
63 years after his passing, a Marine who died at Iwo Jima will have a new headstone dedicated
by Erin Snelgrove
Yakima Herald-Republic
When Cecilia Marsh thinks of her brother, she remembers a laughing 17-year-old who played trumpet and bellowed patriotic war songs.
Like many of his friends, Calvin "Bill" Conner enlisted in the Marines during World War II and missed much of his senior year at Yakima High School.
The following winter, he was one of 26,000 Americans killed during the Battle of Iwo Jima. He was only 18.
"It's all history, and there's nothing you can do about it," said Marsh, who was 11 years old when her brother died. "But it's still hard."
Sixty-three years later, Marsh and her husband, Roy, are fulfilling Conner's final request to have the Marine's Motto, "Semper Fidelis," engraved on his headstone. It means "Always faithful."
"If you believe in God and heaven and someone looking down on you, he wants Semper Fi," Roy said.
A talented artist
To this day, Cecilia can clearly picture her brother. She remembers Conner playing with her. He was a talented artist, who drew life-like portraits of the '40s pin-up girls. And like the rest of his family, he was a regular church-goer.
His mother was worried when he enlisted, but knew she couldn't change his mind. When he died on Feb. 21, 1945, she couldn't truly accept that he was gone, Cecilia said. Instead, she kept his memory alive through a keepsake box.
In that wooden box, she stored letters he wrote and received, a newspaper clipping of his obituary and his dog tags. It's where she stored his drawings, the flag that covered his casket at Terrace Heights Memorial Park and his numerous medals, including the Purple Heart.
Cecilia said her mother couldn't let go of the belief that Conner would one day walk through their front door. For that reason -- and because she didn't see any evidence to the contrary -- she believes her mother never looked at the artifacts or read the letters.
Cecilia, too, carried on this tradition when she inherited the box after her mother's death in 1971. For decades, she kept the box tucked away in her basement.
Only in recent years has Cecilia begun to examine the box's contents.
"I think I can handle it until I see a letter I hadn't seen before," she said. "Then I start crying and I can't read it."
During one of these explorations, Cecilia and her husband found a poem Conner wrote. In it, Conner expressed his wish for the Marine's motto, "Semper Fidelis," to be inscribed on his headstone.
A strong message
At first, the Marshes couldn't decipher Conner's handwriting. But later, after typing out the passages, the message began to resonate with them. With the help of Cecilia's younger brother, they took action a couple of months ago and ordered a new headstone.
To commemorate its arrival, the Marines are hosting a graveside memorial service at the cemetery on Sept. 20. It will include a rifle salute, a flag-folding ceremony, the reading of Conner's poem and the playing of "Taps," the most recognized of all military bugle calls.
The Marshes hope Yakima Valley veterans -- especially those who served at the Battle of Iwo Jima -- will attend.
"What he said in the poem really means something to the Marines," said Roy, an Army veteran himself. "Semper Fi needs to be on there. I didn't know (Calvin). I never met him. But I know Marines."
* Erin Snelgrove can be reached at 577-7684 or esnelgrove@yakimaherald.com.
Calvin's Poem
Someday the band will softly play
while a flag-draped box goes by,
and maybe someone there will wipe
a tear out of his eye.
But, if no tears are shed for me,
it matters not, nor will,
when I have reached my rendezvous
on ocean, lake or hill.
If only I can earn the right
to have my headstone read
the two-word motto of the corps,
that's all that I will need.
Semper Fidelis.
-- Pvt. Calvin William Conner, United States Marine Corps
* A copy of the poem is on display at the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve at 1702 Tahoma Ave. in Yakima.
Memorial service
* WHAT: The Marines are hosting a graveside memorial service to honor Pvt. Calvin "Bill" Conner of Yakima, who died at the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II.
* WHEN: 10:30 a.m. Sept. 20
* WHERE: Terrace Heights Memorial Park, 3001 Terrace Heights Drive, Yakima.
* WHY: Conner's family is honoring his last wish by ordering a new headstone with the Marine's motto, "Semper Fidelis," engraved on it.
Ellie