The Gun Counter

...the 7th of December.

A moment to remember the lost comrades, over a thousand of whom are still on duty in the Arizona.

One of the most sobering and proud moments of my active duty career was administering the re-enlistment oath to my NCOIC in front of the wall of names on the Memorial. I'm not very spiritual, but I really did feel that we were letting them know we were still here and carrying on for them.

Living within block of the flight line of Wheeler, and working on Hickam, both of which still had buildings pock marked with cannon and MG fire from strafing runs has always made today a little more real to me.


(back in the 80's at least, they had a special launch that took military members out the the Memorial before the daily tourist boats started for re-enlistment, commissioning ceremonies etc. I'd been there several times on tourist trips, but this was very different, as everyone there that morning "got it".

No whining kids or moping teenagers wanting to get back to doing something cool on the beach or clueless tourists looking at what to them might have been a piece of modern art for all they knew)

Every time I go to Hawaii (to visit grandkids, no other reason is enough to make me fly commercial voluntarily) I go to the Arizona Memorial. Someday, I'll be able to make the trip without the allergies acting up, but no so far.

The guys at The Chive take nothing seriously, except the important things in life. They got my allergies going with this report:

http://thechive.com/2016/12/07/after-al ... -7-photos/

Have been to the memorial; have rendered honors, arriving and departing, from two aircraft carriers. (BE603 was on the Constellation during the same cruise I was, but we did not know each other yet.) Visited the Missouri on our last trip to Hawaii. Growing up, the son of a WWII (Pacific theatre) veteran, I have always thought highly of the various cemeteries. For me a visit to the Punch Bowl could take hours.

My last active duty re-enlistment in the Marine Corps was Dec 7, 1990 when Former President Bush (Sr), was president. Was going to take the launch out where he was going to administer the oath, but was delayed due to traffic problems. My friend and I ended up receiving the oath out in front of the anchor.

Once we were inplace, right before the oath was administered, a couple of the news stations asked what we were doing. They asked if we could wait 5 minutes, then we re-enlisted on live TV. Just found a couple of pictures I thought I had lost from back then.

Always did get a chill every time I visited. Was stationed at K-Bay for a year, then Camp H.M. Smith for a year, then back at K-Bay. Good times.