The Elder Statesman

By Bill Duncan
The View From Here

Marines are a strange breed. Some will say we got brain-washed in boot camp, but personally I think it goes deeper than that. It ends up being a band of brothers like no other. I say that knowing full well there is a band of sisters who wore the same uniform and are true Marines even though their uniforms were cut a little different.

But loyalty of Marines to the Corps is a strange phenomena in this time when loyalty is seldom considered a virtue. Take for instance, Leo Peter Kraft, a World War II gunner who earned a chest full of medals in the air wars of the Pacific — including nine Air Medals, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, Navy Commendation Medal, a Presidential Unit Citation as well as three Purple Hearts.

Yet this past Sunday as he was recognized for his heroics 60 years later when the Philippine Republic awarded him with three more medals, he reacted as though he had just been awarded the Chamber of Commerce certificate for picking up trash along the highway.

Leo received a standing ovation Sunday from those attending chapel at the Roseburg Veterans Administration hospital where he has volunteered as a chaplain’s aide for some 20 years. In my opinion, Leo put the fidelis in the Marine Corps motto, Semper Fidelis.

In Sunday’s ceremony, he received the Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation Badge, the Philippine Liberation Medal and the Philippine Independence Medal. Hardly had the ceremony ended than Leo was about his business as an usher/acolyte at the chapel services.

Leo was a South Dakota farm boy when he enlisted in the Marines at age 18 in 1942. After training, he was assigned as a tail gunner on the sluggish Dauntless dive bomber, a plane he described as “duck soup for the faster Japanese Zeros.” While still in his teens, he was introduced to some of the fiercest battles in the Pacific Theater in the early stages of World War II.

He saw his first combat at Guadalcanal.

He described seeing his closest friend die when his aircraft was hit by enemy anti-aircraft. “It was a sobering, disturbing event, a time I will never forget.”

During his 18 months of combat, he was wounded three times, crashed twice, once in the sea. The Philippine medals coming 60 years late? He just shrugged it off and added the new medals to the ones he already has.

“Something for the grandchildren,” he said.

We Marines are a strange lot. That is why I found an Associated Press story in Sunday’s paper so intriguing. It was about Allen Abney, a Vietnam War-era Marine who deserted and fled to Canada 38 years ago. He was arrested as a fugitive crossing the Eastport crossing from Canada into Idaho and taken to the brig at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

The story said he was read his rights, issued combat fatigues and boots, given a haircut and told to trim his mustache to military standards or shave it off.

“I was once again a Marine,” he said.

While he was held at Camp Pendleton his younger brother, who had been ill with cancer, died. The Marines expedited his release and paid for a flight so he could return in time for his brother’s memorial service Sunday. Although facing prison for desertion, he was released without a court martial.

“The Marine Corps is one of the finest military organizations in the world,” he told Associated Press. “Good or bad, they take care of their own and I feel privileged to have shared some time with those fine young warriors.”

Abney was 18 when he went over the hill to Canada.

“Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t have done what I did 38 years ago.”

Marines are a strange band of brothers and sisters and I am proud to have been one.

Semper Fi.

(Bill Duncan can be reached by writing to P.O. Box 812, Rose-burg, OR 97470 or via e-mail at elderstatesmansblog@ yahoo.com)

This entry was posted on Friday, March 31st, 2006 at 10:46 am and is filed under Column. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.