Happy Veteran's Day

     He is one of my heroes, for many reasons. Veteran's Day seems the perfect time to tell you about my uncle Maurice Holder, Lieutenant Colonel of Marines, Retired. He spent the early years of his military career in Vietnam—and boy, does he have some stories to tell.
     He's a handsome devil:

     His caption for that photo is, ”Pull here Gunny, close this gap. This is going to leak, for sure.”

     He is also a witty devil.

     Reese entered the war in 1965 in the planning of an invasion called Operation Starlight. Here are his words:

     "Operation Starlight was a huge success. RLT-7 cleared an entire peninsula (the location of Chu Lai and Ky Ha) of Viet Cong, Viet Minh, North Vietnamese Army and anyone else in black PJs with an assault rifle, who collectively we called Charlie. Body count became a reportable issue, with over 1400 enemy KIA, and only a handful of US casualties.  Momentum in the war shifted.  The Marines had landed.

     I flew in on the glow of Starlight, in the belly of a C-130, with a radar van, a jeep, a six-by, two lieutenants and 25 enlisted Marines, and a loaded 45 on my hip.  We were followed by another C-130 that brought generators, a fiberglass bubble, radios and tents, cots, sleeping bags, and C-rations.  I was Officer-in-Charge of the advanced party of Marine Air Control Squadron-7.  (OIC-MACS-7 Adv).  It was finally sinking in, that I was now a combat commander.  I can’t relate the pride that I still feel, that my Corps had selected me to be at this place and time, and to have given me the opportunity to put it on the line, to be on the point, for my country.  I was a Captain of Marines, I was the Skipper, the absolute pinnacle of my career. This is what it’s all about!"

     Perhaps I have mentioned that I am proud of him.

     The rest of his Vietnam story is his to tell. He went on to have a very distinguished career in my favorite branch of the service.

Semper Fidelis.

     A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.
- George William Curtis

     Thank you, Uncle Reese, and all the honorable men and women who have served this great nation.

Love from Delta.