Posted on 03/06/2008 7:48:23 AM PST by stylin19a
As I came out of the supermarket that sunny day, pushing my cart of groceries towards my car, I saw an old man with the hood of his car up and a lady sitting inside the car, with the door open.
The old man was looking at the engine. I put my groceries away in my car and continued to watch the old gentleman from about twenty-five feet away. I saw a young man in his early twenties with a grocery bag in his arm, walking towards the old man. The old gentleman saw him coming too and took a few steps towards him. I saw the old gentleman point to his open hood and say something. The young man put his grocery bag into what looked like a brand new Cadillac Escalade and then turn back to the old man and I heard him yell at the old gentleman saying, "You shouldn't even be allowed to drive a car at your age." And then with a wave of his hand, he got in his car and peeled rubber out of the parking lot.
I saw the old gentleman pull out his handkerchief and mop his brow as he went back to his car and again looked at the engine. He then went to his wife and spoke with her and appeared to tell her it would be okay.
I had seen enough and I approached the old man. He saw me coming and stood straight and as I got near him I said, "Looks like you're having a problem." He smiled sheepishly and quietly nodded his head. I looked under the hood myself and knew that whatever the problem was, it was beyond me.
Looking around I saw a gas station up the road and told the old gentleman that I would be right back. I drove to the station and went inside and saw three attendants working on cars. I approached one of them and related the problem the old man had with his car and offered to pay them if they could follow me back down and help him.
The old man had pushed the heavy car under the shade of a tree and appeared to be comforting his wife. When he saw us he straightened up and thanked me for my help. As the mechanics diagnosed the problem (overheated engine) I spoke with the old gentleman. When I shook hands with him earlier he had noticed my Marine Corps ring and had commented about it, telling me that he had been a Marine too. I nodded and asked the usual question, "What outfit did you serve with?" He had mentioned that he served with the first Marine Division at Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal.
He had hit all the big ones and retired from the Corps after the war was over. As we talked we heard the car engine come on and saw the mechanics lower the hood. They came over to us as the old man reached for his wallet, but was stopped by me and I told him I would just put the bill on my AAA card.
He still reached for the wallet and handed me a card that I assumed had his name and address on it and I stuck it in my pocket. We all shook hands all around again and I said my goodbye's to his wife.
I then told the two mechanics that I would follow them back up to the station. Once at the station I told them that they had interrupted their own jobs to come along with me and help the old man. I said I wanted to pay for the help, but they refused to charge me. One of them pulled out a card from his pocket looking exactly like the card the old man had given to me.
Both of the men told me then, that they were Marine Corps Reserves. Once again we shook hands all around and as I was leaving, one of them told me I should look at the card the old man had given to me and I said I would and drove off.
For some reason I had gone about two blocks when I pulled over and took the card out of my pocket and looked at it for a long, long, time. The name of the old gentleman was on the card in golden leaf and under his name......... "Congressional Medal of Honor Society."
I sat there motionless looking at the card and reading it over and over.
I looked up from the card and smiled to no one but myself and marveled that on this day, four Marines had all come together, because one of us needed help. He was an old man alright, but it felt good to have stood next to greatness and courage and an honor to have been in his presence.
bump to the top....
and THEN you chased down the Escalade and kicked the crap out of the driver?
(only kidding)
(sorta)
Very nice story though. :)
Dang blurry screen...anyone have a windex wipe? There seems to be a mist in the office affecting my computer screen.
My fiance’s father fought at Pelileu, as a very young Marine. My fiance was briefly in Viet Nam, our 3 boys did 5 tours of Iraq resulting in one of the boys is a double amuptee from the Battle of Fallujah. But because he was injured before the chopper crash in 2005, he did was not on board when the chopper went down with his whole unit aboard AT THE CAMP where our other 2 boys were based.
I met my fiance online on Marine parents’ site, had been chatting for several weeks, when when our 2 boys were put together as roommates out of a whole batallion of possible grunts. My son’s best friend, call him GH, who spent 3 birthdays in a row in Iraq, had talked on the phone a few times with my fiance generally about conditions in Iraq, Fallujah, etc. The young Marine, GH, was in town on leave from CA, the fiance was in town from New England... they had never met or seen photos of each other. We were at the mall, and my fiance went out for a smoke, came back inside WITH GH, they had met up outside. Right then my son called from Iraq so the cell phone was passed around. I will never be convinced that God wasn’t involved in some of these Marine “coincidences” that I have experienced.
Semper Fi
Thank you for posting this.
My dad was a SoPac SeaBee in WWII.
thanks...I should have vetted this...I wouldn’t have posted it if I had.
sorry.
The most humblest man I ever met. He told us stories of his service, and how much luck he had and the memories of his buddies. At the end of all of it he said, "I guess God wasn't done with me yet."
LOL I love it! Thank you so much.
“You shouldn’t even be allowed to drive a car at your age.” The reason that young man has a job, girlfriend, SUV and a place to lay his head is because of men like that elderly gentleman. My late father was also a retired Marine that fought in WWII and Korea. That’s one place where Russia has us beat: They REVERE their veterans, especially the WWII guys!
too bad we don't teach our kids and peers something about U.S. history, maybe this disrespect wouldn't have happened
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/Jan-27-Sun-2002/opinion/17951357.html
Do you know if he was at Peliliu?
Not sure. He started out at Scofield on Oahu, then went west from there.
Interestingly, my son was stationed on Oahu, near the old naval base, when he was in the Army (2nd Div) I think it’s now an air base.
It would be worth your while to look up whether he was. The Battle of Peliliu was chaos and if your father was involved, you’d be amazed that he even lived after the bombardment they took during that fight.
It was an unforgettable evening.
For anyone who doesn’t recognize the name, Joe Foss was a legendary WWII Marine aviator who won the MOH. When I was on active duty in the late 60’s I met Marion Carl, then a Major General. He was also a WWII ace. It was said that people like Carl and Foss could fly the boxes that airplanes come in.
God bless you all!
Mayhap not a true story, but a good one nonetheless-as are the posts to this thread.
I still get chills.....
Talk about timing.
Mark Levin is playing The Marine Corps Hymn this minute!
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