Editor’s note: This piece was coauthored by Ron’s twin brother, Roger Helle.
It was a beautiful day. The sky was clear and the blue waters of the South China Sea behind us were a great backdrop for a photo of our reunion to send home to our family.
Roger and I joined the Marines together before graduating high school in 1965. By January 1966, we were both in Vietnam but serving in different units. Our assignments occasionally allowed our paths to cross, and on this day in April 1970, we had a brief respite, allowing us to spend a few days together before returning to our units. It was only a few months later that I (Roger) was grievously wounded, as the unit I was leading was ambushed by North Vietnamese Army regulars. I (Ron) was able to spend a week with him in the hospital in Danang before he was transferred out of the country. A year later, Roger was medically retired.
No one in our rural high school community would have hazarded a prediction that we would end up wearing the prized Eagle, Globe, and Anchor of a United States Marine. It was the dress blue uniforms of the recruiters that drew us in, but it was the history of our beloved Corps, taught by battle-hardened drill instructors, that captured our imaginations. The heroism of countless generations of Marines instilled in us immense pride and a strong sense of duty. War is a tremendous refiner, and while it often brings out the worst in mankind, it also brings out the noble warrior spirit. The virtues of heroism and sacrifice are what made the Marines “the first to fight.”
Generations have come and gone. It was easier to serve when the U.S. administration valued this nation’s Armed Forces and held them in high regard for service and sacrifice. It was harder when the administration paid scant attention to its warriors and sought to undermine the warrior ethic. But still they came, men and women who loved country more than praise of the nation’s leaders. It is fitting that, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our beloved Corps, our leaders once again hold our nation’s “Force in Readiness” in the high regard it is due.
It is a time-honored tradition that, during our annual Birthday Ball celebration, we read a message from our 13th Commandant, General John A. Lejeune. We want to share a few of his comments.
In every battle and skirmish since the birth of our Corps, Marines have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term “Marine” has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue.
This high name of distinction and soldierly repute we who are Marines today have received from those who preceded us in the Corps. With it we also received from them the eternal spirit which has animated our Corps from generation to generation and has been the distinguishing mark of the Marines in every age. So long as that spirit continues to flourish, Marines will be found equal to every emergency in the future as they have been in the past, and the men of our Nation will regard us as worthy successors to the long line of illustrious men who have served as ‘Soldiers of the Sea’ since the founding of the Corps.
Roger and I have, over the years, been privileged to participate together in the annual Marine Corps Birthday Celebration in various places around the globe. Several years ago, we celebrated together at a Birthday Ball of the Marine Reserve unit in Houston, Texas. To witness the camaraderie of a new generation of young Marines, many wearing decorations from Iraq and Afghanistan, was both encouraging and inspiring. We are older and grayer now, and as it states on the back of several of our T-Shirts, we are “Not As Lean, Not As Mean, Still A Marine.”
We can safely say that the “eternal spirit which has animated our Corps” is alive and well in a new generation of men and women who have stepped up and stepped into the calling that has earned them the honored title of a United States Marine. We want to wish all of our brothers and sisters, from every generation, a memorable 250th anniversary of our beloved Marine Corps.
Semper Fidelis!
