Photo By Senior Chief Petty Officer Molly Burgess | The Navy, local businesses and civic organizations came together to celebrate and...... read more read more
NORFOLK, Va. - The Flagship, Inc. hosted a celebration commemorating the 239th birthday of the U.S. Navy during the 2014 Hampton Roads’ Navy Ball at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott, Downtown Norfolk, Oct. 4.
The celebration Ball was the premier event for the 2014 Fleet Week in Hampton Roads.
Moody “Sonny” Stallings Jr., a retired U.S. Marine and ex-POW, served as the event’s guest speaker and talked about his experiences when he joined the Marine Corps and served in Vietnam.
“I showed up in Vietnam and a lot of historians had said that, that war was a mistake. You know, it may have been, some of my brothers and Vietnam veterans, the historians, they may be right. Maybe it was a mistake. Over 50 thousand of us couldn’t come back. But it’s not all about what we knew was right or wrong then, it was answering the call, as you are doing now,” Stallings said. “I wonder what they will say about your wars 50 years from now. Were they a mistake? Your wars are certainly different, technology and the threat. We were never worried about a Vietnamese soldier blowing up our cities. You have an entirely different threat and entirely different enemy.”
Stallings went on to pay homage to a close friend he lost while serving in the Vietnam War, Lance Cpl. Michael L. “Roper” Umdenstock, whose name is inscribed on a bracelet he wears around his wrist. He spoke about the relationship between him and Umdenstock, the influences he had on Stallings and what may have become of his friend if he were still alive.
“Would he have a wife, girlfriend, children? Would he have liked football, or be at a football game on a pretty October afternoon?… I’m guessing from a little town in Ames, Oklahoma, a 20-year-old Marine, whose body got shrapnelled, was killed in that ambush that I was shot, he was put on the helicopter with me with a poncho covering his face. I’m guessing no one has ever toasted to him, at least no one from here. So I’m going to ask you, if you would,” Stallings said, as he went on to raise his glass in honor of his friend. “I’m going to recite some words from a Civil War ballad. When Johnny comes marching home again, hurrah, hurrah. We’ll give him a hearty welcome then, hurrah, hurrah. The men will cheer, the girls will shout, the ladies they will all turn out, when Roper comes marching home.”
More than 900 active duty and retired service members and spouses attended the Ball to celebrate the event.
To honor the Navy’s birthday, the ceremony also included a reading of the significance of the time-honored POW/MIA table from Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Command Master Chief Andrew Thompson, the ringing of nine bells signifying the past and the future of the Navy and a retiring of the colors. The event was one of many held around the country to recognize the service and heritage of the U.S. Navy since its founding.
For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.
| Date Taken: | 10.04.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.17.2014 15:09 |
| Story ID: | 145364 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 89 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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