Sergeant Dale Anderson

Jenison, MI

A couple of years ago I was working for a "big box" retailer. I was walking from one aisle to another when I bumped into an older gentlemen with a hat that said "Iwo Jima". I stopped and asked him if he had been there and he said "Yes". I said "Semper Fi, Marine!" and asked him if I could shake his hand. As we shook hands I told him I'd served ('66 - '70) and simply couldn't imagine what it had been like for them and told him he and the men he'd served with had set the bar pretty high in terms of courage and commitment and that I hoped my generation hadn't let them down. A small smile crept across his face as if old memories came back and he told me he'd gone ashore in the first wave in a squad of thirteen--and he was the ONLY one who had survived! His wife was right there and I heard her take a sharp breath and watched as tears formed in her eyes. They married when he was released from active duty in 1946 and she told me he'd NEVER told her that story! She hugged me and whispered "Thank you" and said "You really ARE a brotherhood, aren't you?" One of the proudest moments of my life, being considered that man's brother, right up there with boot graduation and the birth of my kids! SEMPER FI!