Ross: The last words Marine General Kelley will always remember
Nov 12, 2018, 6:56 AM | Updated: 6:57 am
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Paul Kelley in 1983. (AP Photo/Bill Foley)
(AP Photo/Bill Foley)
Yesterday was Veterans Day, but it was also the 90th birthday of General Paul Kelley, born November 11, 1928. He served for 37 years, rising to Commandant of the Marine Corps.
A few years ago he told a story about visiting the Vietnam Memorial in Washington.
“There’s one name on there, named John Banchini.”
It was 1966, Kelley was a colonel leading a mission to capture a cluster of hills, known as Operation Utah. John Banchini was his point man.
“And suddenly there was an explosion, and I saw John Banchini drop,” Kelley recalled.
Banchini was severely wounded.
“And John Banchini knew, knew, he was dying,” Kelley said. “And John Banchini said to me ‘Please be careful colonel. The hill is mined.’ His last words on Earth were ‘Please be careful colonel.’”
For years, General Kelley has had a ritual.
“There are times when I’ll go to the Memorial, and I’ll find John Banchini’s name and I’ll put my hand on it, and I’ll talk to John,” he said. “He was so, so brave and uncaring for himself, and caring for me. The point is that I wore his blood on my utility uniform for three days. So I got to know John Banchini.”
I know it’s tempting to look the world and figure humanity’s done for. But the general’s story has me convinced we are surrounded by good and courageous people, even if we don’t know their names.
See General Kelley’s speech here (John Banchini story at 43:40).
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