FINN: On the day of his birthday, the Honor Guard Platoon assembled on the
upper driveway. The car was ready, the sergeant had the door open, the
majordomo usually proceeded him out to the car. As he came out Sergeant Ellery,
who was in command of the platoon, the officers were to the rear and to the
right, called the platoon to attention and present arms and saluted. And said
to the General, the Honor Guard would like to wish you a Happy Birthday,
General. And he took the salute and said, thank you very much.
But then he walked over to the platoon and told Sergeant Ellery to place the
men at ease. He then talked to Sergeant Ellery and said come with me and he
walked around and went to each man reviewing the troops if you will in a very
informal way, but he stopped at each man and we were close enough to hear the
conversation. He would ask the men where they came from, how long they'd been
in the service, what unit they had come from and something about the town. Now
he either knew the general area or he knew the town and he always made some
sort of response remark to each man. He went down the first, then the second,
then the third rank that occupied about three quarters of an hour much to our
surprise and then he returned to the front of the platoon and said, "Gentlemen,
on behalf of Mrs. MacArthur and myself I would like to thank you for this
salute."
And as he walked away Sergeant Ellery called them to attention again,
brought them to a salute status and he turned once more and just be, when he
was entering the car saluted again and went away. And he left a very euphoric
feeling in the men because neither they nor we nor anyone else expected that
type of response. We thought that we would get a quick salute, thank you, get
in the car and go and it was... but for us it was one of the indicators that he
really respected and thought kindly of the Honor Guard and they weren't just
routine people hanging around to serve him. And it was a fine day for us it
really was a fine day.
back to Interview Transcripts
|
PBS Terms of Use Privacy Policy
Pledge Your Support
Stories to Go