Tribute to United States Marine Corps
Marines and Friends --
For the second time in 13+ years I will salute morning colors and leave the Marine Corps. My Division moves south next week and I officially retire on 1 September. For family related reasons I must leave at this point, although there is much to be done as the Division transplaces to Quantico and we prepare for the opening of the National Museum of the Marine Corps next year. These are exciting and very busy times for us in History & Museums Division.
Now in my seventh year here I realize what good fortune it has been working with the great folks in this Division, at Headquarters Marine Corps, the Marine Corps University, and of course the Marine Corps worldwide. I have been doubly blessed to have served a full career as a Marine and then later another period as a proud retired Marine for a total of 42 years of answering the bugle's call. During that period I have served 13 Commandants from June 1957 to present. It's safe to say that not many of them knew me, but it has been a point of pride to say that I served with such great men even if from afar.
It is an even greater point of pride to reflect on the incredible Marines I served with over the years at the other end of the rank structure; the silent, steady, square-jawed Sergeants; the amazingly professional Staff NCO's, without which nothing would work. And most of all, best of all, the Privates through Corporals--the real Marine Corps. The rifleman, gunner, fixer, driver, etc. who make you so proud you think your chest will explode just walking through ranks. The men and women who look at you when you report aboard and wonder if you will ever be as good as they are (and you wonder this as well). The old & young, tall & short, tough, large, lean, salty, irreverent, hard, suspect, but willing--always willing--to help you make the unit better while exceeding your expectations by a mile. MGen. Julian C. Smith, the Commanding General, 2nd Marine Division at Tarawa said it perfectly on the conclusion of that epic battle, and I wish that I had said it myself, "I shall never again see a United States Marine without a feeling of reverence". That's it; reverence. Nothing else captures the feeling we have about our Marines.
With great appreciation to you all listed here, and those I could not list, a firm salute and,
Semper Fi,
John Ripley
John W. Ripley Col.
J.W. Ripley USMC (ret.)
Director History & Museums Division
United States
Marine Corps
(202) 433-3838
*****************************************************************************************
A letter of appreciation to Col Ripley:
Col. Ripley,
On behalf of everyone in this country who should be thanking you and doesn't even know it, THANK YOU, Sir.
Many people devote their lives to a cause or a professional in the hopes that they will change just one person's life for the better.
Col. Ripley, for what it is worth, please know that knowing you has changed my life in profound ways. When you speak I listen and when you write I study the words. The messages you convey touch me deeply emotionally, mentally, spiritually, even physically. Knowing you makes me want to be a better man. And I am not alone. I know from others who have met you that they have the same experiences after being in your presence just for a short while and after having the opportunity to hear the enchanted stories of your life.
Your family, your friends and your brethren Marines represent the tip of the ice berg of those whose lives you have touched with your life of service to this country. Men like you are this country. We need more men like you. Men who don't give lip service to the principles for which your life stands. Men who stand for --through action-- the principles that make you who you are and enable you to speak so authentically, eloquently and inspiringly about such principles.
To the many men and women in this country who will unfortunately never have the opportunity to shake your hand while looking into those knowing eyes, to those who fear that men like you are a dying breed, and to those who don't know where or how or why men like you even come into existence, I wish I could tell them what I expect you would tell them. I suspect that you would say that as long as the Marine Corps of The United States of America continues to exist, so too will men like Col. John W. Ripley continue to exist. They will have different stories, probably not as many to tell, and definitely not stories as awe inspiring and humbling as yours...but they will have theirs and they will be rooted in the same principles as yours. Why? Because of your service to this country and these principles. Because of those who served this country and these principles before you. Thank God for the Marine Corps.
I am not a Marine. I will probably never know the sense of pride that you and your Marines must feel to be a Marine right now. But I can tell you this. I have met my hero and I am damn proud to have met my hero because many never will.
Thank you, Sir.
Humbly Yours,
Scudder Fowler