When the traveling Vietnam Wall came to the Outer Banks, the trailer displayed artifacts which had been left at the wall. One had a photo of a high school kid wearing his crimson and gold school sweater. He had his life in front of him. His name was Guido (Guy) Farinaro. Virtually everyone at his Catholic high school went on to college. Guy did not. His family immigrated from Italy, and he wanted to give back to the country which took them in.
He joined the Marines. After surviving the Tet offensive in Hue, his platoon was now down to fourteen men and on their 3rd platoon leader in two weeks. In a nameless rice paddy, a sniper killed Guy. The new platoon leader was about to call in artillery on the hamlet where the shot came from.. A young sergeant eyed the officer with a look that said, “Think about it.” He did not call in the strike. He said that was a life changing moment for him.
Years later on his last day of active duty, he went to the Wall. He stuck an index card next to Guy’s name. On it were four stars and he wrote, “These are your stars, not mine, with love your platoon leader.”That officer was General Peter Pace, the head of the Joint Chiefs under Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. General Pace has visited Chaminade High School a number of times since. He has said he keeps coming back because he wants to understand where people like Guido come from. And each time he impresses on the students there that it was Guy’s death which forged his Moral Compass. When you are in tough times you need your Moral Compass.
“What does it mean to be a patriotic veteran?”
It is the same for all of us. On Memorial Day, I will think of my classmate, Guy, and my grandkids. He did not want to be a hero. He just wanted to thank our country.
I will think of what Lincoln said, “It is for us, the living, to be here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us…that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and this government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
I will think of Peter Pace and his Moral Compass. And I will strive along and beside my fellow Americans to live up to Guy’s sacrifice.
by a Thankful Patriot