VMGR-234 "The Rangers"
Happy Birthday Marines!!! Nov 10th 2007 marks another
year that the Corps has been giving the bad guys a dose of their own medicine.
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VMGR-234 "The Rangers"
Happy Birthday Marines!!! Nov 10th 2007 marks another
year that the Corps has been giving the bad guys a dose of their own medicine.
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Hello, My name is SgtMaj Reilly. If you need to contact me, please send an email to SgtMaj@vmgr234.com On this, the 232nd birthday of our Corps, I recently came across a folder filled with articles, magazine clippings, and emails that I have collected throughout my career. One is the story of Marine Colonel Donald Cook, who 40 years ago as a young Captain in Vietnam, made the supreme sacrifice, felled not by a bullet, but in captivity by the brutality and hardship as a Prisoner of War. His death was preceded by such extraordinary heroism and sacrifice that it led to the posthumous award of the Medal of Honor and promotion to colonel. The citation reads in part:
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while interned as a Prisoner of War by the Viet Cong in the Republic of Vietnam during the period 31 December 1964 to 8 December 1967. Despite the fact that by so doing he knew he would bring about harsher treatment for himself, Colonel (then Captain) Cook established himself as the senior prisoner, even though in actuality he was not. Repeatedly assuming more than his share of the manual labor in order that the other Prisoners of War could improve the state of their health, Colonel Cook willingly and unselfishly put the interests of his comrades before that of his own well-being and, eventually, gave his life. Giving more needy men his medicine and drug allowance while constantly nursing them, he risked infection from contagious diseases while in a rapidly deteriorating state of health. This unselfish and exemplary conduct, coupled with his refusal to stray even the slightest from the Code of Conduct, earned him the deepest respect from not only his fellow prisoners, but his captors as well…”
Colonel Cook, a devoted husband and father, left a letter for his children in the event he did not return from Vietnam. In it he wrote “…We in the United States, mine and your ancestors, have built a life that we cherish and hope that someday all mankind may come to know. The sum total of my life is not one of great wealth and wisdom, but I hope of love for you and for all mankind. I have selected the life of a United States Marine. It is a life that has not paid many material benefits to your wonderful Mother or to you. But yet it is a life that must be led - a life that I have chosen in hopes that in my small way you and your children to come may never know the burden of bearing arms.”
I have had the sobering experience of writing such a letter, as have my two Marine sons - one who is currently in Iraq and the other having just returned from there. My letter remains sealed, and God willing, so will theirs. Let us stop and reflect for a moment on the awesome privilege and responsibility that we as Marines, and Marine families, have in carrying on the legacy of men such as Colonel Cook. As a father once said to his son prior to him shipping to boot camp, “Don’t ever do anything that brings discredit upon our Corps. Too many Marines have died for you to mess it up.”
Semper Fi, Thomas Reilly VMGR-234 Sergeant Major
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