LITTLE ROCK — Ireceived an e-mail last week from my late mother's brother, John Paul Hammerschmidt of Harrison.
It was the first e-mail from my uncle that I can recall. The subject line read, "This gave me the chills."
Giving "the chills" to this former 13-term congressman who earned four Distinguished Flying Cross medals for his courage in piloting 217 missions across the treacherous Burmese Hump during World War II had to mean it was something special. Sure enough, he was referring to a story still making the rounds on the Internet. It described the stirring events during Navy SEAL Mike Monsoor's funeral service on Sept. 25, 2006.
Monsoor, 25, of California was a petty officer second-class Explosive Ordnance Disposal SEAL Team member. He died on an Iraqi rooftop after falling on a live grenade to save his comrades. They included 45 fellow SEALs in the immediate area. Monsoor believed in his commitments. A year earlier, he'd been awarded Silver and Bronze stars for heroism in pulling a wounded soldier from the battlefield.
The handsome young Monsoor was what three decades ago, we all might agree, was the quintessential all-American youth. The third of four children, he was a 1999 graduate of Garden Grove High School, where he played tight end on the football team. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2001 and became a SEAL in 2004. Those who knew him described him as fun-loving, but businesslike when he needed to be.
The final, selfless choice he made, a single act that scripture tells us is the greatest love anyone can displayfor his fellow man, led to the Medal of Honor awarded posthumously last October. The Navy plans to name a new destroyer after him.
But what prompted John Paul's chills was the poignant way in which Monsoor's fellow SEALs sent their friend to his final rest. The account of the funeral at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego said that six pallbearers slowly slid Monsoor's casket from the hearse. They then lined up three to a side and began to slowly carry his remains toward the service. Monsoor's family, friends, fellow sailors and those who admired him had formed parallel lines on each side, a human pathway to his open grave.
As the pallbearers escorted the rosewood casket along this passageway of well-wishers, the columns of folks on each side began to collapse into a trailing crowd. Unknown at the outset was that each of the 45 SEALs whom Monsoor likely had saved from injury or death that day in Iraq was waiting quietly in the crowd along the route.
The story said that as the casket passed one of the grateful 45 SEAL team members scattered along the procession, that man would remove the distinctive Gold Trident pin from his uniform, step forward and slam it down firmly on the casket, making certain the coveted emblem wasfirmly attached to the wood. Then he would step back and salute the casket and no doubt the principles of valor and utmost sacrifice that Monsoor's brief life represented.
Reportedly, the sound of those sparkling Tridents striking the casket time and time again resounded across the cemetery like rifle salutes.
The unique Gold Trident is awarded to Navy SEALs only after they successfully complete months of intensive basic and advanced physical and skills training where unity is paramount. Each of these men had emerged as the cream of the crop. They were proven brothers in their shared character, integrity and achievement.
By the time Monsoor's casket reached the waiting grave, its top was ablaze with what appeared to be a gold inlay of these trident insignias shining alongside each other.
And so another American warrior was laid to rest after sacrificing his life so that others might continue to live. His passing, and the deepest regard for the sheer honor that surrounded those circumstances, should be enough to send chills through all of us who care deeply about our nation and its future.
I've wondered if I have inside me the right stuff of a Mike Monsoor, and lately I've wondered how many of us would be willing to sacrifice all that we are for the values and principles that Monsoor obviously cherished above his very existence.
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Mike Masterson is opinion editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Northwest edition.
Editorial, Pages 89 on 09/27/2009