My Message
I love our country, the United States of America. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 I was haunted by what they had done to so many young Americans stationed there, and knew I had to do something. Though I was only 13 years old, I knew I could fight, and I wanted to fight. As an American citizen it was my responsibility to do everything in my power to right the wrong that was done at Pearl Harbor.
Within the year I enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 14, trained and served for nearly three years, while seeking every opportunity to defend my Country. Five days after my seventeenth birthday two grenades threatened to kill not only myself, but my comrades. Without hesitation, I did my best to save my friends the only way I could, by covering those two grenades with my own body. Then, as I lay in the volcanic ash of Iwo Jima bleeding from more than 100 holes in my body, I cried out "God, save me." Though I was willing to die for my friends, I didn't want to die. God answered my call for help, and today I have the privilege of representing all my buddies who served, bled and died at Iwo Jima. I wear my Medal of Honor in honor of them, to remind all who see it that freedom was purchased at a great price.
Recently a young girl called to interview me for a school report. I answered her questions, then said, "Now, can I ask YOU a question."
A little puzzled at my own query, she said "Sure."
"Would YOU," I asked, "be willing to give your life...to die...to save your friends?"
A little hesitantly, she replied that she wasn't sure.
That would also be the question I would ask each visitor to my web site. "Would YOU be willing to give your own life for others?" That is the spirit of teamwork, the ideal of sacrifice, that for more than two centuries has kept our Nation free. And that, my friends, is the challenge before those who will accept the responsibility of protecting and preserving our Nation for future generations.
