1990 - Parade After the Gulf War in Richton Park. David Dorgan, the Village Manager, arranged for a parade to honor the military soon after the Gulf War. My Marine Squadron MWCS-48 marched in the parade. I - Colonel Craig Hullinger - is in the center of the photo with a rifle in front of my face. The parade was a nice honor. We were in cammies, following the color guard.
After the parade in Richton Park our Squadron went to Tinley Park to the World Concert Center where we joined Army, Navy, and Air Force units. Each of the Generals and Admiral gave a long winded speech - and it was very cold and the troops were restless.
When it was my turn I simply marched to the center of the stage at attention, said in a very loud voice "From the bottom of our hearts, from all Marines past, present, and future, We Thank You! I saluted and marched off to a great ovation - everyone was glad the event was over so they could get out of the cold, and my Squadron had the most troops.
I felt a little guilty since only about 1/2 of our Squadron got mobilized for the war. But the people were honoring servicemen and women, and we were glad to be honored.
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In 1972 we marched in a parade down Prospect Ave in the Morgan Park neighborhood of Chicago, my old neighborhood.
I was a Marine Captain and led a large platoon of Marines. As we began marching I saw my high school Russian teacher watching the parade. I bellowed out " Zdravstvujtye, Soya Sergeevna" Which is Russian for Hello, Mrs. Soya Sergeevna (Mrs Petrus), which we said to her each morning at the beginning of class.
I could see her looking around to see who had said it, but I was marching and could not break ranks. I was one of her worst students and no doubt was not missed, but she may have recognised my horrible accent. But most likely she realised it was one of her students, but never saw me or knew who it was or where the voice came from. Just as well.
