Friday Morning at the Pentagon ......things we don't hear
about.....please read ....this is very touching and TRUE
Friday Morning at the Pentagon
Imagine this happening every Friday for four years and not one word of
coverage by the media.
By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY, McClatchy Newspapers
I want to pause to take note of the real reason there is a Memorial
Day.
It's meant to honor and pay our respects to those Americans who've
given their lives in service to our nation, who stand in an unbroken
line from Lexington's rude bridge to Cemetery Ridge to the Argonne
Forest to the beaches of Normandy to the frozen Chosin Reservoir to the
Ia Drang Valley to the sands of Kuwait to the streets of Baghdad.
Over the last 24 months, 3000+ soldiers, Marines, sailors and Air Force
personnel have given their lives in the terrible duty that is war.
Thousands more have come home on stretchers, horribly wounded and
facing months or years in military hospitals.
Here's Lt. Col. Bateman's account of a little-known ceremony that fills
the halls of the Army corridor of the Pentagon with cheers, applause
and many tears every Friday morning.
"It is 110 yards from the "E" ring to the "A" ring of the
Pentagon.
This section of the Pentagon is newly renovated; the floors shine, the
hallway is broad, and the lighting is bright. At this instant the
entire length of the corridor is packed with officers, a few sergeants
and some civilians all crammed tightly three and four deep against the
walls. There are thousands here.
"This hallway, more than any other, is the `Army' hallway. The G3
offices line one side, G2 the other, G8 is around the corner. All Army.
Moderate conversations flow in a low buzz. Friends who may not have
seen each other for a few weeks, or a few years, spot each other, cross
the way and renew. Everyone shifts to ensure an open path remains down
the center. The air conditioning system was not designed for this press
of bodies in this area. The temperature is rising already. Nobody
cares.
"10:36 hours: The clapping starts at the E-Ring. That is the outermost
of the five rings of the Pentagon and it is closest to the entrance to
the building. This clapping is low, sustained, hearty. It is applause
with a deep emotion behind it as it moves forward in a wave down the
length of the hallway.
"A steady rolling wave of sound it is, moving at the pace of the
soldier in the wheelchair who marks the forward edge with his presence.
He is the first. He is missing the greater part of one leg, and some of
his wounds are still suppurating. By his age I expect that he is a
private, or perhaps a private first class.
"Captains, majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels meet his gaze and
nod as they applaud, soldier to soldier. Three years ago when I
described one of these events, those lining the hallways were somewhat
different. The applause a little wilder, perhaps in private guilt for
not having shared in the burden ... yet.
"Now almost everyone lining the hallway is, like the man in the
wheel-chair, also a combat veteran. This steadies the applause, but I
think deepens the sentiment. We have all been there now. The soldier's
chair is pushed by, I believe, a full colonel.
"Behind him, and stretching the length from Rings E to A, come more of
his peers, each private, corporal, or sergeant assisted as need be by a
field grade officer.
"11:00 hours: Twenty-four minutes of steady applause. My hands hurt,
and I laugh to myself at how stupid that sounds in my own head. `My
hands hurt.' Christ. Shut up and clap. For twenty-four minutes, soldier
after soldier has come down this hallway - 20, 25, 30.
Fifty-three legs come with them, and perhaps only 52 hands or arms, but
down this hall came 30 solid hearts.
"They pass down this corridor of officers and applause, and then meet
for a private lunch, at which they are the guests of honor, hosted by
the generals. Some are wheeled along. Some insist upon getting out of
their chairs, to march as best they can with their chin held up, down
this hallway, through this most unique audience. Some are catching
hand-shakes and smiling like a politician at a Fourth of July parade.
More than a couple of them seem amazed and are smiling shyly.
"There are families with them as well: the 18-year-old war-bride
pushing her 19-year-old husband's wheelchair and not quite
understanding why her husband is so affected by this, the boy she grew
up with, now a man, who had never shed a tear is crying; the older
immigrant Latino parents who have, perhaps more than their wounded
mid-20s son, an appreciation for the emotion given on their son's
behalf. No man in that hallway, walking or clapping, is ashamed by the
silent tears on more than a few cheeks. An Airborne Ranger wipes his
eyes only to better see. A couple of the officers in this crowd have
themselves been a part of this parade in the past.
"These are our men---broken in body they may be, but they are our
brothers, and we welcome them home. This parade has gone on, every
single Friday, all year long, for more than four years."
Did you know that? The media hasn't told the story!
