18 NORTH from 8
during Vietnam -- the war America wanted to forget -- when the Uniform Mon- day Holiday Act passed by Congress went into effect and turned Memo- rial Day into a “three-day weekend.” Since then, it’s become an occasion for appliance, mattress and auto sales, picnics, barbecues and auto rac- es. Thankfully, there are some places besides Ar- lington National Ceme- tery where Memorial Day still is observed as a time to honor America’s war dead. Here in Triangle, Va., the Marines do it right.
THE WEIRS TIMES & THE COCHECO TIMES, Thursday, June 2, 2011 Like all Marine Corps
installations, every major structure at Quantico is named for a fallen fel- low warrior. On May 13, hundreds of Marines and their families gathered to dedicate a new staff noncommissioned officer academy, named in honor of Sgt. Kenneth Conde Jr. Our Fox News’ “War Stories” team was embed- ded with his unit, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, in Ramadi, Iraq, during April 2004. Shortly after Sgt. Conde was wounded in action during a gun- fight with enemy insur- gents, I asked him why he refused to be medically
evacuated. His response: “There is no other choice for a sergeant in the Ma- rine Corps. You have to lead your Marines.” Cpl. Jared McKenzie,
one of Conde’s Marines, said of his sergeant: “He always led from the front and never asked us to do something he wouldn’t do.” Sgt . Conde was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his valor and wounds in that engagement. On July 1, just eight days after his 23rd birthday, he was killed by an improvised explosive device. At the dedication cer-
emony, Conde’s battalion commander, Col. Paul
Kennedy, described the young sergeant as “a cou- rageous, inspiring lead- er.” The fallen Marine’s father, Kenneth Conde Sr., said: “I’m wearing my son’s combat boots. Though they fit, I could never fill them.” Just down the road from
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Conde Hall is another testament to how the Ma- rines honor America’s he- roes. Quantico National Cemetery occupies 725 beautifully landscaped acres donated by the Marines to the Veterans Administration in 1977. This final resting place for more than 28,000 Ameri- cans who served in ev- ery branch of our armed forces is closely linked to some of the most crucial events in U.S. military history. The fledgling Continental Navy pre- pared to battle the Brit- ish fleet here in 1775-76. During the Civil War, it was a blockade point and subsequently a logistics base during the bloody battle for Fredericksburg. In 1918, the Marines es- tablished a training base and an air station for units deploying to fight in World War I. Since 1941, Quantico has been the home of the Marines’ Of- ficer Candidates School and The Basic School for all Marine officers. Today it is also home to the FBI and DEA academies. On Memor ial Day,
an “Avenue of Honor” through Quantico Nation- al Cemetery is adorned with American flags. A “Memorial Pathway” dis- plays monuments to Ed- son’s Raiders of WWII fame and recipients of the Purple Heart; memorials to the 1st, 4th and 6th Marine divisions; and a monument erected to America’s veterans by the commonwealth of Virginia. This is also the final
resting place for a close friend -- and a reminder of present-day peril. On Feb. 17, 1988, U.S. Ma- rine Col. William “Rich” Higgins was kidnapped in Beirut by Iranian- supported Hezbollah ter- rorists. They murdered him in July 1990. His re- mains were interred here in 1991. Rich Higgins’ gravesite is my Memorial Day reminder that the streets of heaven really are guarded by U.S. Ma- rines. So are the streets of America.
Oliver North is the host
of “War Stories” on Fox News Channel, the found- er and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance, and the author of “American Heroes in Special Opera- tions.”
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