The Unrequited Salute (True Story)

I've been backing up my pictures to CD Disk over the past week, and I came across some long-forgotten ones that were already on a disk from 2005.  They were of our last family reunion and a post-reunion visit to Washington, D.C. with my sister and her husband, my late brother-in-law, Gene.

Gene died the following June, so this was also our last visit with him.  The pictures are very nostalgic for that reason alone, but they brought back a memory that I have always wanted to share, but never got around to until now.

I met Gene in boot camp at Lackland Air Force Base, and we became fast friends, going to the same tech school at Scott AFB and then choosing the same assignment at Mitchel AFB with 2nd Tow Target Squadron.  We two used to go up to my home in Buffalo on many weekends, and that was how Gene got to know and date my sister.  Eventually, Gene and Ruth married and spent 44 happy years together. When Gene died, Ruth gave him a military funeral complete with honor guard and an officer to present the flag.  Now comes the story...

While Gene and I were stationed at Mitchel, we used to sometimes get dressed up in our class-A uniforms and go over to the main base and parade grounds.  Our purpose was a silly one, but we enjoyed it ... harassing the officers.  You see, Mitchel was known as a "Colonel Haven" for the many officers of that rank stationed there.  On any given day you could walk past over a hundred colonels at that parade ground.

It was customary then (I don't know if things are still so formal, but I hope they are) to always salute an officer in passing.  That officer then had to return the salute.  So Gene and I would walk in step around the parade ground sidewalks endlessly saluting and receiving return salutes. We would sometimes do three complete circuits–about a half-mile each–just to prolong the game.  We even got caught laughing a few times and, once, we purposely crossed the street to avoid a salute and the colonel called us over and chewed us out for it.

At Gene's funeral there was a colonel who gave a short speech (eulogy?) about Gene's military service and sacrifice. Then he faced the coffin and gave that slow, reverent salute to a fallen comrade.  It was a solemn occasion, but I had to laugh inwardly that Gene was finally getting his comeuppance for all those times he had saluted first. Only this time he wasn't able to return the salute.

Well, that's my story.  I might have gotten a few details wrong, but there you have it.  It has been seven years since Gene died, and I still miss him like it was yesterday.  He still makes me smile like this once in a while, though.