Welcome to Call to Decision
A
Southerner Speaks I have always been proud of my time spent as an officer in the United
States Marine Corps. I served in the Republic of Vietnam in 1969 and,
while I was certainly no "John Wayne" type, I tried to do my
duty to the best of my ability and I did bring all of my platoon out of
Vietnam alive.
Gene
Andrews
This past summer, the son of a frend of mine was very 'gung ho' about
joining the Marines and asked my opinion, which I tried to give as
honestly as possible, warts and all. I don't know if my discussions had
any influence on him, but he enlisted, completed all of the
pre-enlistment tests and physical exams and went to all of the
pre-enlistment meetings. To say the least, he was very excited about
serving his country in the Corps.
Shortly before he left Nashville for boot camp, he was told he could not
serve his country because he had a Confederate Battle Flag tattooed on
his shoulder in an area that would be completely covered by a t-shirt,
and certainly by his uniform.
When informed of this, I went to the local recruiting station that had
processed this young man to see if I were getting the entire story. The
recruiter, a staff sergeant, told me, "Yes, sir. The Marine Corps
considers the Confederate Flag a 'hate symbol,' but if the young man in
question had a state or U.S. flag tattoo, that would be
acceptable."
I informed the young sergeant that my family had defended the State of
Tennessee (also his home state) against a sadistic invasion under that
flag and to call our sacred flag of honour a 'hate symbol was an insult
to ALL southerners, but especially to those southereners who had risked
or even given their lives in service to the Marine Corps. Southerners
had served at Belleau Woods, at Taraw and Iwo Jima, at Inchon and the
Chosin Reservoir, and at Khe Sahn and Hue City, but now we are no longer
wanted in the politically-correct don't-offend-any-minorities military?
(This was just prior to the Fort Hood massacre)
He was polite, even sympathetic, but said the flag policy was a Marine
Corps policy from Headquarters Marine Corps and not a local decision.
After informing the sergeant that it seemed to me that our military was
building a mercenary force of illegal aliens while rejecting native-born
Americans in order to have a ready force to turn, without question, on
American citizens, I asked the sergeant if he had taken out the trash
yet.
He replied that he hadn't.
I then said, "Please add these to the day's garbage," and
returned my lieutenant's bars, my gold and silver Marine Corps emblem
from my dress blues, my shooting badges and my Vietnam ribbons.
I, like many of you, have always been told, "Once a Marine, always
a Marine," and "There are no ex-Marines, only former
Marines," but for me that is no longer true.
I was born in the South. I was raised here. I raised my family in the
South and some day, God-willing, I hope to be buried in the native soil
of our Southern homeland. I have always considered myself a Southerner
first, and will remain so, despite any other organization that I may
temporarily join.
I will never make a critical remark about a veteran, from any branch of
the service, but from now on, I will do everything in my power to
discourage any Southern young man, or lady, from becoming a future
veteran. I am now an ex-Marine.
Gene Andrews
____________________
Gene Andrews ex-Marine, 1st Lieutenant 3rd Marine division Vietnam
0106580