Memorial Day weekend

After a long drought without a three-day holiday (last one being Presidents' Day in February), the summer season kicks off in earnest on Memorial Day weekend. Because of our work schedules most of us observe the holiday on Tuesday, June 1st. The Class of 2010 of Kwajalein High School graduates this weekend and soon will be heading to the mainland to begin their college studies. (They have 90 days to leave the island once they finish school, unless they manage to get a contract job on their own.)

Saturday night was the 'Zombie Prom' at Vets' Hall; the place was decorated and many attendees were dressed in their 'zombie best'; a good time was had by all.

The next day the American Legion Post 44 rifle squad was issued their M-1 Garand rifles and practiced the moves required to fire the traditional three rifle volleys over the grave. Although the rifles and blank ammunition belong to the Legion post, the prohibition on personal firearms on island require that we store the weapons and ammo at the KPD armory and notify the Provost Marshal (the top military cop). This was my first time handling an M-1, and the marching cadence I learned as a CAP cadet was quite true: 'M-1, caliber thirty, mighty heavy, mighty dirty!' After a few dry runs to get ourselves familiarized with the weapon, we loaded clips with seven blank rounds. The rifles did not have blank firing adapters so the spent gas could not retract the bolt and eject the spent shell as it was fired, so we resorted to manually charging the rifle after each volley. I  remembered to bring some ear plugs to lessen the assault on my eardrums from the shots. One other benefit abut firing blanks was there was no recoil. (I was told the recoil on a 30 caliber was a little harder than that of an M-16, which uses a smaller round.)

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny, with a little 'liquid sunshine' - a light drizzle - as we reported to Vets' Hall and were transported to Flagpole Hill at the south end of the island by the terminal for the ceremony. Thankfully, the rain lasted only a short time. All of us wore jeans, dark shoes, polo shirts with the American Legion emblem and the legend 'AMERICAN LEGION POST 44 RIFLE TEAM' and matching baseball caps. We stationed ourselves at the top of the hill in front of the cross marking the approximate location of the grave where the captured Marines from the Makin Island raid were executed by the Japanese in 1943.

The ceremony began promptly at 9:00 am with the playing of the national anthems of the Marshall Islands and the 'Star-Spangled Banner'; at the first note of the music we all assumed 'Present Arms' and held it until commanded 'Order Arms' when the music finished playing. After a short speech by the president of KRS, Dave Norwood (a retired Army colonel) and a wreath laying at the base of the flagpoles, it was our turn to do our solemn duty:

'PRE-SENT, ARMS! ORDER, ARMS! HALF-RIGHT, FACE! PORT, ARMS! READY! AIM! FIRE! AIM! FIRE! AIM! FIRE!'

A lone bugler (from the Kwajalein Community Band) then played the mournful notes of 'Taps'. After a brief benediction from the post chaplain, the ceremony ended and we were dismissed. We quickly proceeded to police up our spent brass - making sure there were no live blank rounds - and gave the spent brass to some of the kids. After securing the rifles we drove back to Vets' Hall and proceeded to help out with the cooking preparations for the veterans' lunch at 11:30. We still had plenty of leftovers from the Mongolian BBQ the previous weekend so we fired up the grills and cooked it up. After the lunch, we cleaned up the hall and had a few beers between ourselves; I finally got back to my BQ about 7:00 pm and immediately hit the rack; I was thoroughly exhausted from the day's events.

As a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, I'm proud to have done my patriotic duty with the rifle squad, and proud to also share the day with my fellow veterans at the American Legion. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.