On a day of speeches,
the tears in Mike Hunt's eyes expressed more than any carefully
chosen words ever could.
Hunt, of Green Bay, Wis., lost his son, 82nd Airborne Division
paratrooper Isaiah R. Hunt, to the war in Iraq last year. On May
26, he journeyed to Fort Bragg to pay tribute to Isaiah and all the
other paratroopers who have given their lives in combat. The
division's history museum held a memorial ceremony held as part of
the 82nd's annual All-American Week celebration.
"I wouldn't have missed it," Hunt said. "It's a real honor to be
here, and it's great to know Isaiah was a part of something so
special."
Hunt took his place alongside paratroopers past and present,
distinguished guests, family and friends as they gathered in the
sun outside the museum to honor those who made the ultimate
sacrifice for their country. They sat facing the 82nd Airborne
Division War Memorial, a large stone monument inscribed with the
names of the campaigns the 82nd has fought in and dedicated to the
memory of the troopers who fell in those campaigns.
Veterans representing fallen paratroopers from World Wars I and
II; operations in the Dominican Republic, Grenada and Panama; the
Persian Gulf War; and the global war on terrorism helped lay a
wreath at the foot of the monument.
The guest of honor at the ceremony was retired Command Sgt. Maj.
Steven R. England, former command sergeant major of the 82nd and
the 18th Airborne Corps. In his speech, England invoked the simple
stone memorial beside him as a shrine to the history and the values
of the division.
"You cannot fully understand the 82nd until you come to this
place, because this is the soul of the 82nd. It is here where honor
resides," England said.
He challenged the audience never to forget the meaning of the
memorial and the paratroopers it pays tribute to. "It is our duty
to come here. It is our duty to remember. It is our duty to remind
others what this sacred ground represents," he said.
Another honored guest at the ceremony, Gen. Dan K. McNeil, the
head of U.S. Army Forces Command and a former commander of the
82nd, also stressed the importance of honoring those who gave "the
last full measure of devotion." As a veteran himself, he felt the
obligation personally, he said.
"Those of us who have
had the good fortune to go off and come back unscathed and still be
walking this earth know that it's our duty to remember those who
were not so fortunate, who did not come back," McNeil said.
Retired Lt. Col. Jim Pritchett, a veteran of the 82nd's
deployments to the Dominican Republic and Vietnam, helped lay the
memorial wreath in honor of the fallen paratroopers from the
Dominican Republic campaign. Pritchett said he has been coming to
All-American Week for almost 10 years and hopes to continue to do
so because of the camaraderie and brotherhood he feels with fellow
paratroopers.
"I didn't know anyone the first time I came, but all
paratroopers have a common bond," Pritchett said.
It is a bond that defies time, distance -- and even death. As
Pritchett joined veterans from wars spanning 60 years of the 82nd's
history to place the wreath, he was renewing that bond, he said. "I
feel very honored to do it. It's the least I can do," he said.
When all was said and done, the wreath laid and the speeches
concluded, the order was given for a 21-gun salute and the playing
of "Taps." The roar of the firing party's rifles shattered the
afternoon quiet, then gave way to the mournful sounds of a bugle
playing.
As the age-old sounds of Taps filled the air and a gentle breeze
ruffled the newly placed wreath, Mike Hunt's eyes were not the only
ones in the audience welling up. [ANN Thanks Pfc. Mike Pryor,
American Forces Press Service]
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