I met a veteran last night...

You'll love this.

Do either Jambo or Ryan recall dealing to a little hunch-backed guy at the Grand that ALWAYS wore a 1st Marine Division cap and a red satin VFW jacket? He sticks out in my mind because he was COVERED in pins and buttons proclaiming his affiliation with every single veterans association or group known to man... VFW, American Legion, AVA, et al... plus his ribbons and medals from the war. He was always worming in next to stick, and picked a fight with Miss Selma one night over the "pole" position they both wanted so badly.

Anyway... I'm walking the slot floor last night, about 0130 local, and I see a little hunch-backed guy walking with a really pronounced limp... and he is wearing nearly the same outfit. The one exception is that he is also wearing a sash across his chest, like the "Girl Scouts" wear for their merit badges (no disrespect intended to other veterans that wear them, mind you... I just don't know what they are called).

He is proudly covered in his regalia, and I notice he is wearing a red satin jacket emblazoned with the "Indian Head" insignia of the 2nd Infantry Division. This caught my eye, as it isn't one you see all that often... at least not as often as the "Big Red One" or 1st Marine or the "Screaming Eagles". I am curious enough to walk around the slot bank to intentionally get a better look at his jacket, and I catch a glimpse of his hat.

It's a black baseball cap, with the word VETERAN embossed across the front and "scrambled eggs" on the bill (now I don't know if that automatically means officer... this didn't look like an official cap or anything, but I am going to assume from his obvious pride of service, he was an officer at some point in his career). I took no further notice of the cap... yet.

The afore mentioned sash caught my eyes now. It was olive-drab, and looked to be made from US O.D. canvas (very nice touch... the same material that the Army made packs and duffels out of for nearly 80 years), and was covered in his pins and buttons. What I noticed first were his campaign patches...

They were oversizes versions of his service ribbons, I suppose... but they looked way different than I am used to spotting from my own experience. The ones I am used to are long and narrow, usually three-color schemes that uniquely denote the campaign or action served in. These were round, or oval (I think)... still three color, but looked more like shoulder patches than service ribbons. What told me they were service ribbons (I keep using that phrase for lack of a better) was the fact that they had the names of the actions embossed below each one. The first I noticed was the lowest on his sash... "Meuse-Argonne". The one above was "Chateau-Thierry". I simply assumed he started his service after June 6th, 1944... and his ribbons denoted actions in France after the invasion... mainly because I didn't recognize the actions, only the language they denoted (French, of course).

It was the ribbon at the top that REALLY got my attention, though...

"Belleau Woods"

I am not exaggerating when I say this stopped me in my tracks. Could this moderately ancient-looking man have actually SERVED at the Battle of Belleau Woods? The summer of 1918? World War One, for the love of all that is holy? Even if he enlisted at the tender age of 16, he'd be 102 (or very nearly) now... and he's spry enough to be walking a casino floor at 1:30 am? Walking? No canes or chairs or Pride scooters... walking.

Needless to say, I reached into my bag of "craps dealer" ice-breakers and struck up a conversation that lasted 20 minutes. He did serve in the AEF under General "Blackjack" Pershing... but the story he told me that blew my mind was this:

About two months after the battle, he was in a hospital tent (unrelated injury, I guess... he never took a bullet in France), and found himself in the cot next to the then Gunnery Sergeant, Danny Daly. Danny Daly is credited with shouting to his platoon on June 6th, 1918, "Come on, you sons of bitches... do you want to live forever?" He is one of only two Marines and nineteen American servicemen to have received TWO Medals of Honor for separate actions.

I went to bed this morning and pondered having met this man. My brother (Jambo, for those unaware) and I grew up with a neighbor who had served as an aircraft ground crew member and actually serviced with the 94 Aero Squadron... and Eddie Rickenbacker, who ALSO won the Medal of Honor for his 26 confirmed "kills" in WWI, the highest till WWII. I can now have claimed to have shaken the hands that shook the hands of two of the most famous hero's our nation has ever produced... Rickenbacker and Daly, with three Medals of Honors between them.

(Incidental, this neighbor was even older than you may think. He not only followed Pershing into France in 1918, but also went with him for the US invasion of Mexico and the hunt for Pancho Villa in 1916. Call me crazy, but how many people today can say they knew a veteran of the last invasion of MEXICO personally?)

Anyway... that's my update for today. I pride myself on knowing a lot of crap... too much pride for too much crap... but I will take this encounter, and my friendship with John Oschenbaur, to the grave as one of my most memorable meetings in my life. I certainly hope my new "friend" returns to the casino soon, and during my shifts... I can't imagine a better way to kill a long and boring graveyard stint than listening to THOSE war stories.