Douglas Hamilton, a fifth-generation descendant of Alexander Hamilton, sprinkled soil gathered from the decisive battlefield of Yorktown in the Revolutionary War.
Former Sen. Dirk Kempthorne, a great-grandson of Pvt. Charles Kempthorne of the Union Army's 3rd Wisconsin Infantry, and Henry B. Pease Jr., a descendant of Henry Lewis Benning, the Confederate commander at the Burnside Bridge, spread soil from the blood-soaked Civil War battlefield of Antietam, or Sharpsburg, as Gen. Benning probably called it.
Soil from World War I battlefields in France was spread on the parade ground by George York, son of the legendary Sgt. Alvin York, and Samuel Parker Moss, grandson of Samuel Parker of the 28th Infantry. Both York and Parker earned the Medal of Honor during World War I.
World War II was represented by soil collected from the beaches at Normandy and those of Corregidor and Guadalcanal in the Pacific.
Theodore Roosevelt IV, grandson of Theodore Roosevelt Jr., who earned the Medal of Honor on D-Day at Normandy, and Kirk Davis, son of Charles Davis, who earned the Medal of Honor at Guadalcanal, spread soil from those battlefields.
Two legendary warriors from the Korean War -- Col. Ola Lee Mize, who held Outpost Harry against overwhelming odds and earned a Medal of Honor, and Gen. Sun Yup Paik, who at age 30 commanded both a division and a corps in the South Korean Army -- sprinkled soil from their war's battlefields.
Then it was time to honor the infantrymen who fought in Vietnam, and two legendary old soldiers marched onto the field wearing their black cavalry Stetsons. Retired Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and retired Command Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley carried jars bearing soil collected at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley and on other Vietnam battlefields.
In the stands, a dozen or more Ia Drang veterans and other 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) veterans, most wearing the same black hats, stood at attention as Moore, 87, and Plumley, 89, carried out their mission and then saluted them.
Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin Hill, the senior enlisted adviser to Gen. David Petraeus at the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, spread soil collected from battlefields in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan during Operation Desert Storm and Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
Actor Sam Elliott, who portrayed Sgt. Maj. Plumley in the movie "We Were Soldiers," narrated the ceremony. (Full disclosure: The movie is based on a book that Gen. Moore and I wrote.) The program began and ended with some spectacular flying demonstrations using helicopters of the Vietnam War era, and Fort Benning once more heard distant echoes of the blades of Hueys, OH-6s and Cobra gunships.
"Columbus, Ga., provided more than 200 acres of land at the gates of the fort for construction of the Infantry Museum, and Columbus citizens, foundations and companies donated almost half the money needed to build it." Writes Joe, adding that the Museum Foundation is rounding up the last $10 million to complete work on the displays.
The National Infantry Foundation web page is here. Yes, you can make an online donation, or "visit" the museum.
All done!
