Maggie's Farm

http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson052402.asp

(it opens)

May 24, 2002 12:55 p.m.
A Ring
A Memorial Day tale about a few very good men.

Yesterday, our rural mail carrier delivered to our farm a ring in a small box — of worn metal, its band cut in half, with a strange signet inset of a Roman legionary. The story of its arrival is eerie, but also informative about a generation now all but gone — and so perhaps worth sharing on these Memorial Day holidays in our current struggle against enemies once again so adamant to destroy our freedom."

(and closes)

"This Monday, as on past Memorial Days, I will be surprised by the nondescript grave of my namesake. The inscription is as spare as the stone itself — name, birth, death, and nothing more except the nondescript "6th Division, 29th Marines."

"Unlike the other impressive tombstones of relatives in the family plot, there are no inscribed res gestae, not even a "loving father," much less a "beloved grandfather." A man who dies tragically, young, and alone does so without capital, either monetary or human; when he leaves behind no progeny it is evident in the modesty of his commemoration. But now there is at least something more, and as I grasp this ring with its cut band, and remember the letters and conversations this spring from the stewards of his memory, I pray to God that we still might see the likes of such giants again. And so perhaps we shall."

(in between that beginning and end is much fascinating detail re VDH's contacting --almost 60 years on --of his uncle's squad mates)