John Deere Meets Marine One
Sgt Grit:
Arlington National Cemetery can be a very lonesome place after a huge Washington, DC snowstorm. My friend Michael Bailey and I decided we would pay a visit to Arlington on Feb. 19th to visit four special gravesite’s; unfortunately, due to the heavy snow blanketing the ground, we could not find the graves of two of the four. Of the two we found, one was my brother George’s Memorial Site; he was a WWII LST-577 Navy Signalman killed on 11Feb45 when his ship was sunk by a Japanese submarine (see: https://www.grunt.com/scuttlebutt/marine-corps-bs/others9.asp).
The other gravesite was that of one of our Marine Corps Heroes, “Dark Horse Six,” the “call sign” of Navy Cross and TWO Silver Star Medals recipient Colonel Robert D. Taplett, USMC (Ret.). Bob Taplett, former Commanding Officer of The Basic School at Quantico, during the Korean War’s winter months of 1950 (with temperatures falling to 40 degrees below zero at night), led his 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment in the grueling strategic retreat at the Chosin Reservoir. (For details on Col. Taplett, his Marine Corps career, subsequent civilian employment, and his book “Dark Horse Six” (published shortly before he died at age 86 in December 2004), see: http://www.stagnesalumni.org/pdfs/TaplettTributeByGFM.pdf). It should be noted that Bob’s dear wife, Patricia Kingston Taplett, died less than three years after he did and is reunited with him in the “Home of Heroes.”
I’d like to “headline” the below pictures we took on Feb. 19th at Arlington National Cemetery, “John Deere Meets Marine One.” That’s because as the pictures show, without the “help” of the capable Arlington Cemetery staff and their “snow plows,” my “Marine1” VA licensed Buick would not have made it to any grave site. While searching all four gravesite areas Mike and I “sloshed” through snow almost waist high, since although the main roads were fairly clear, the gravesites of course were not, and snow drifts made headstone identification difficult if not impossible.
I hope your readers will enjoy these photos:
Gerald F. Merna
1stLt USMC (Ret.)
Mustang