Top Marine general speaks of new 'greatest generation'

[thedrifter]

Top Marine general speaks of new 'greatest generation'
Star-Telegram | Sun, Dec. 07, 2003 | T.A. BADGER

FREDERICKSBURG, Texas - Surrounded by a group of veterans who have come to be known as the "greatest generation," the Marines' top officer praised America's soldiers in Iraq on Sunday as being made of the same right stuff.

"Once again another 'greatest generation' has stepped forward," Gen. Michael Hagee, the commandant of the Marines, said in a ceremony at the National Museum of the Pacific War on the 62nd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.

"They don't want to die, but they are willing to," continued Hagee, who grew up in this small Hill Country city. "That is true honor. You cannot buy that, and we must never ever lose that."

Later Hagee told reporters that he was confident that troop levels in Iraq were adequate, assuming that the bombings and sniper attacks that have killed dozens of U.S. soldiers since May are not sustained.

"If what we are experiencing now is a spike (in anti-American attacks), we're in good shape," he said. "But if it's a new plateau of activity ... we will have to re-evaluate."

Asked how military leaders will know if the spate of attacks is only temporary, the general said he wasn't sure, but he added, "I'm optimistic in their ability to accomplish this mission."

More than 60,000 Marines were among the first U.S. troops to be sent to fight in Iraq, but currently there are no Marine units serving there. Hagee said about 20,000 Marines will be deployed to that war zone in the spring.

As usual, dozens of World War II veterans - some of them survivors of Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 - were sprinkled among the several hundred people who turned out for the Fredericksburg ceremony.

Pearl Harbor must be remembered so the United States forever keeps its military ready for action, Hagee said.

"This is a dangerous world, and it will continue to be a dangerous world," he said.

Boosting Sunday's attendance were many family members of soldiers now on the ground in Iraq, and they took heart in Hagee's comparison to the World War II veterans in terms of their voluntary sacrifices.

"That really touched me - I never thought about that before," said Janet Valencia, who wore a button holding a picture of her husband, Army Sgt. 1st Class Hector Valencia. "They are willing to give up everything."

Melinda Joiner, who drove down from Fort Hood with Valencia, echoed that what a soldier goes through is often not seen outside their unit and their family.

"It's nice to hear somebody say it," said Joiner, whose husband, Sgt. Robert Joiner, is also serving as part of the 4th Infantry Division, which is due home in the spring.

The ceremony included placing a wreath at a war memorial at the museum, which has grown up around the boyhood home of Adm. Chester Nimitz, who commanded U.S. naval forces in the Pacific during World War II.

Four World War II-era fighter planes also flew over the ceremony in the "missing man" formation to honor Americans killed in war.


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Sempers,

Roger