Today is Veteran’s Day. Yesterday was the 231st anniversary of the Marine Corps, and appropriately, the dedication of a new museum in Quantico, Virginia.
Norman Halfpenny heard the first strains of “The Marines’ Hymn” and snapped to attention, his 73-year-old body not quite as straight as when he served as a young man in Korea and Vietnam.
He was joined yesterday by thousands like him, hundreds in wheelchairs, their hair grayed by time. Many traveled thousands of miles for this moment, on the 231st anniversary of the Marine Corps, to gather on a grassy promenade near the Quantico Marine Corps Base, to remember and cry and celebrate the opening of the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
“I made sure he got here,” said Halfpenny’s wife, Paulette, 63, gripping her husband’s uniformed knee. The couple donated $4,000 toward the construction of the $90 million facility and traveled from their home in Arizona for the ceremony. They wanted to be among the first to visit the striking museum, designed on a sharp angle reaching skyward to invoke one of history’s most famous images — the flag being raised over Iwo Jima during World War II.
Halfpenny wanted to talk about his years of service, about the combat he saw in Korea at the famed Chosin Reservoir, where Marines valiantly fought the Chinese, but he was halted by his own tears.
“It’s the Corps,” he said, weeping. “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”
At the end of the ceremony, President Bush told the story of a Cpl. Joseph Dunham, who will be honored with the Congressional Medal of Honor:
Cpl. Jason Dunham of Scio, N.Y., died on April 22, 2004, of wounds he sustained when his patrol was ambushed at Husaybah, in Anbar province near the Syrian border.
“He and his men stopped a convoy of cars that were trying to make an escape,” Bush said. “As he moved to search one of the vehicles, an insurgent jumped out and grabbed the corporal by the throat.”
During hand-to-hand combat with the insurgent, Dunham called out to his fellow Marines: “No, no, no. Watch his hand!”
“Moments later, an enemy grenade rolled out,” Bush said. “Cpl. Dunham did not hesitate. He jumped on the grenade to protect his fellow Marines. He used his helmet and his body to absorb the blast.”
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee presented Dunham with the Purple Heart at his bedside shortly before he died at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland with his parents at his side. His death occurred eight days after he was wounded.
The President said it best:
“As long as we have Marines like Corporal Dunham, America will never fear for her liberty,” said Bush, who wiped a tear shortly after Dunham’s parents were honored with a standing ovation. “As long as we have this museum, America will never forget their sacrifice.”
Semper Fi.
