Wow, where to start, I guess right here, having spent the past week in Wash. DC with a bunch of swell US Marines. I guess I will make my first blog on the most impressive thing we did while there in DC. We were allowed to tour the home of the Commandant, 4 star General James T. Conway. He is the 34th Commandant of the Marines and most of them have lived in this gorgeous three story home. It is located at the north end of the parade field at the "8th and I Streets" Marine Corps barracks in DC. The spot for the base was actually chosen by President Thomas Jefferson and the barracks to house the Marines and the Commandants home was built in 1801...That goes back a fir piece and this home in which the commandants have lived since is now the oldest continually inhabited home in DC. In the war of 1812 the Brits took over the town and burned just about everything including the White House but they used this as their headquarters while there and for some reason spared this beautiful home....
The commandants wife was ever so gracious, greeting us at the front door by first name, as we had name tags, and then along with help from maybe a half dozen Marines from the barracks showed us all three floors of the home. Even allowing a few including myself, to use the bath rooms while there...Also while there in the first picture, I seized the moment so to speak, there was the commandants personal office, and the chair was empty and I handed my camera to a fellow Marine and in I went, I just could not resist, sorry Sir, but I did not bother that container of nice cigars you had, nor did anyone else...You can trust Marines even older ones........
When nature called while there I went outside and told a Sargeant that I needed to find a head and could he direct me to one...he said, "sir there are several right there in the living quarters", at which I then said I could not use them it just would not be right, how close is another one?
But he took me back in and said it was quite OK....A Corporal from the mid 50's using not only an officers head, but the highest officer in the Corps just did not seem to me to be "OK", but it was and I did....And there you have the respect and discipline and graciousness that make up our "Espirit De Corps", that I guess only Marines understand....
The second picture down on this posting is Commandant David Shoup. He was born and raised in Battleground, Indiana. He no doubt grew up playing soldier in the battle field located just a few blocks from his home now a antique store in the middle of town. So from that he went on to join the Marines and won the medal of honor on the Island of Tarawa in the south pacific during world war two...From there he went on to become the highest Marine in the early 1960's.....So I guess he is one of my favorite commandants along with the most recent ones like Gen Krulak, Gen Jones, Gen Haggee, and now Gen Conway.......Gen Jones went on after his term as Commandant to be picked by President Bush to be the head of all the Nato troops in Europe. And he now has been picked to hang out in the white house as the chief military advisor to President Obama.....I feel good about this man hangin out there, and advising as best he can, to a President that I have serious doubts about...It is good to have him in that capacity...
And so here starts a few blogs on my great DC adventure. Lying ahead will be blogs forthcoming about such things as the Sunset Parade on Tuesdays, The Evening Parade on Friday, The officers and men who inhabit the 8th and I barracks, our visit to Bethesday Naval Hospital, our visit and banquet in the great hall of the Museum of the Marine Corps, the reunion that Gunny Bill Robinson and I have planned for next August in DC, and maybe a few other topics along the way...It was one hell of a week and good friends were met and great memories made....
Semper Fidelis
Corporal Jack the Happy Hoosier.......
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