Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I’m Lieutenant Deviled Yeggs.  I work homicide in the big city of Tracy.  But this is a remembrance from this past summer.  School had not yet started, and the storm chasers had returned.  Since it’s Veterans’ Day, I decided to add a remembrance of a veteran that I had only met a few times.  But I don’t think I have ever met a more honorable man.

Who and what is the remembrance?  Dr. Callie’s grandfather passed away in his sleep.  He had everything set up, but just not transportation.

Callie called me two years ago on Veterans’ Day.  Her grandfather had left with a group of other veterans to hit all the free things for veterans, and she was afraid he was wandering the streets.  He was overdue to get back to the nursing home.  His crew was made up of two Korean War veterans, five Vietnam War veterans, and two Gulf War veterans.  Her grandfather served in World War II, Korea, two tours of Vietnam, and then retired, forced upon him.  He had served with all the men except the two youngsters from the Gulf War, youngsters since they were in their fifties and still employed.

We found him asleep at a donut shop.  He’d eaten his free donut and fell asleep.  Since he had served with the ones who were at the donut shop, they let him sleep.  Jim and I took him home.  He insisted on being put in the back of the squad car, where we put the criminals so that his street cred would improve.  We went to visit him a couple of times since then.

Since Pink Lady and Amy G. Dala share the jet, Amy decided to come with us.  Amy and Ralph E. and Scrambled and Pink Lady were on the front row.  Callie’s parents and Callie and Scarlet Ibis were on the next row.  GrandPa, Gwen, and Poached and Menzie were on the next row.  Then it was Emmett Dalton, Sophia, Captain Hart and Gisele on the next row.  The Niblicks and the Levys were on the next row.  Glyce and I had a row to ourselves.  And then Gen. Casey was with Angus and Missy and Joseph Jones, who had just returned from his honeymoon and hurricane storm chase.

Everyone was in clothing fit for a funeral, but the Levys, the Niblicks, GrandPa, and Gwen all had strange looking charcoal colored blazers with military ribbons.  Gwen had two ribbons.  Pauline had a half dozen.  Mashie and the Levys had as many as the general did, which was a lot, but GrandPa seemed to have every ribbon ever given to anyone.  It seems the alphabet organization gave out medals for bravery and such, but they never advertised, because technically, they were never there.  But not to be outdone, Captain Hart, Poached and I were in our dress uniforms for the Tracy Police Department.  Menzie snickered when she saw us, not knowing that we even had uniforms.

General Casey said that Master Sergeant Johnson had been his first sergeant when he was a company commander.  He felt he had to be there.  Everyone else, except Sophia who did not want Emmett going alone, had things to do once we arrived.

When the fasten seatbelt sign went off, Amy got up to ask if anyone needed anything from the galley.  Soft drinks on this part of our journey only, unless anyone wanted coffee.  Amy went back to the galley to fill all the orders.  The half-owner of the aircraft and she was being the flight attendant.

The general went to Callie’s row.  “I hear that Top had some special requests.  You have a strange group here.  A few civilians wearing odd looking blazers with military ribbons that I do not recognize.  Oh, maybe a couple of them.  You have the saxophonist from the wedding six weeks ago, and the beautiful soloist.  What does Top have cooked up?”

Callie said, “He gave me written instructions.  We are flying to Colorado Springs.  Amy has a bus arranged to pick us up there.  The internment will be at the Pike’s Peak National Cemetery.  Grandma is already interred there.  And granddaddy had it arranged that buddies from the different wars would be interred there also if they did not have another spot picked out.  The internment ceremony is going to be run by the Army.  Joseph will act as the pastor.  He knows the right things to say.  I hear there will be a twenty-one-gun salute, taps played, the unfurling and then folding of the flag.  Dad will get the flag.  I doubt if I could handle that emotionally.  Then granddaddy’s special request is that since Grandma is already there waiting on him, he wanted us to go to where he will be interred to have a little reunion of sorts.”

Gen. Casey laughed, “It’s like he thinks that he is there.  He was a believer, Callie.  He’s been looking into the face of Jesus for days now.  But, I know, he was an airborne ranger, and they have some quirks.  What does he want?”

Callie said, “He wants a medley of bagpipe music.  The MacDougalls will do that.  Then he wants Menzie to sing the last verse of one song and the first verse of another.  She has the lyrics.”

Menzie said, “And I do not think that I can do this.  Sergeant Johnson must have been crazy.”

Gen. Casey suggested, “Hmmm.  The last verse of one song and the first verse of another?”  Menzie nodded.  “Without seeing what you have there, I suggest that the last verse is to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.  And the words are, ‘There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the ‘chute, Intestines were a-dangling from his paratroopers suit, He was a mess, they picked him up and poured him from his boots, And he ain’t gonna jump no more, Gory, Gory, what a helluva way to die …’ (Blood on the Risers – U. S. Paratroopers, courtesy of Genius.com)”

Menzie asked, “The chorus has Hell in it.  Will I get in trouble for singing this?”

Missy snickered, “No, it was the request of the deceased.  What is the other song?”

Gen. Casey said, “To guess it also, I am thinking it is to the tune of Beautiful Dreamer.  And it goes like this, ‘Beautiful streamer open for me, Blue Skies above and no canopy, Counted nine thousand – waited too long, Reached for my ripcord – the darn thing was gone.’ (Beautiful Streamer, parachuter history website)“

Gisele asked, “If I may be so bold, General, your voice is wonderful.  Could the Purple Four plus Menzie sing, and have you fill in for my daughter who is not with us?  Menzie will have back-up if she gets too emotional.”

Pink asked, “Emotional as in choaked up or cracking up?”

Menzie groaned, “Can it be both?  This is crazy!”

Gen. Casey then suggested, “May I give you a history lesson?”  Everyone nodded.  “Master Sergeant Johnson lied about his age.  He was sixteen when he jumped into the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden.  The jump went well, and they secured their bridge, but the movie title said it all, ‘A Bridge Too Far.’  The last bridge could not be secured, and the operation failed to meet the objective of getting into the heartland of Germany quickly.  In fact, they are going to have a ceremonial jump next month to commemorate the eightieth reunion (since this was back in August, the jump was in September).  But after fighting his way through Germany, he shipped to the Pacific where he was wounded on Okinawa.  Now seventeen years old, he meets a beautiful nurse at the hospital.  She’s a few years older, but he doesn’t mind.  They get married.  He was a private and she was a captain.  One of those taboo romances, but the war had ended, and she left the service to be a wife and mother.  The Johnsons traveled the world, but during Korea, it was only the now sergeant who went there.  He had been promoted rapidly, already a sergeant first class.  He was in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill, one of the few that survived.”

Gen. Casey asked, “Does anyone have any questions so far?  If I did not know, I would be asking where this guy calling the sergeant ‘Dad’ fits in, but that would be after the first tour in Vietnam.  His second trip to Vietnam was mostly rear echelon stuff, but they still had it rough at times.  Then he took his family to West Germany, where I was a raw captain.  I made the proper decisions.  I was smart.  I made absolutely no decisions unless I cleared it with Top.  He did the hard work, and I became a general, but I might not have stayed the course without having a first sergeant like him.  So, if he wants Blood on the Risers and Beautiful Streamer to let his wife know that he has arrived, then he gets it.”

It was a short flight.  Everything went smoothly, but on the way back everyone, except for children and a pregnant Pauline, raided the liquor cabinet.  Callie said that Top had given her a few toast requests.

Credits

The first and only other post about Master Sergeant Johnson was inspired by an old memory of my first “first sergeant.”  It was called Getting Back Home.  I patterned the back story after him, but I added a couple of known Army battles.  My first experience with a company first sergeant was a dark-skinned African-American.  He was short.  He was rail thin.  And he was like a father to everyone in the company.  He was tough.  You did not mess with him.  Like the story, he lied about his age to get into World War II in time to see action.  He was in Korea and multiple tours in Vietnam.  When I met him, he had been on active duty for 35 years.  And if someone was guilty of a minor offense, requiring non-judicial punishment, he enjoyed having the miscreants polish his office floor with a toothbrush.  The floor seemed to glow.

I had gone through four years of ROTC.  I went to graduate school right at the end of the Vietnam War.  So, I went through basic engineering officer school for a few months and late in the summer of that year, I reported as a first lieutenant to an engineering battalion in West Germany, assigned to Charlie company.  After my first week on the job, managing the construction of a veterinary hospital, I rushed back to the barracks, a few hours away, for my first staff meeting.

The company commander turned the meeting over to this wiry master sergeant.  He slumped his shoulders so that he could see us at eye level while we sat in this tiny room.  He had a gravelly voice.  He had eyes that seemed to bulge, and he made eye contact with each person in the room.  Then he spoke, “Second platoon is in charge of the latrine this week and I found a speck of dirt on the third urinal from the left.”  Like a cobra, he struck lightning quick.  In only one or two steps he was right in front of me.  He leaned in close enough for me to smell his aftershave.  The left eye squinted and it seemed his right eye popped out of the socket.  I am sure it didn’t, but that was all I could see, one very big eyeball.  Then he added in his command voice, that I am sure could be heard outside the building, “And what are YOU going to do about it, lieutenant?”

I suddenly had a loss for words.  What could I do about it?!  I had been on a construction site 2-3 hours to the west of the barracks all week long.  But I was so intimidated, that I stumbled for any words at all.  Other than a stammer coming from my lips, the room was silent.  My platoon sergeant leaned in close and did a stage whisper that everyone in the room could hear. “Sir, repeat after me. ‘We will take care of it, Top!’”  I dutifully said in a squeaky voice, “We will take care of it, Top!”

The entire room erupted in laughter.  As said before, I had four years of ROTC, basic engineering officer school – with honors, and I had been promoted to First Lieutenant, but I learned that day that you never really were in the Army, until the first sergeant, usually nicknamed “Top” as the Top sergeant in the company, scared you half to death.  And no, I retained full control of my bowels and my bladder … barely.

A few months later, we had a new first sergeant.  Someone in Washington, DC said that 35 years of active duty was enough, and our beloved top sergeant had to retire.

Top, this was for you, just like the previous one.