I was driving in to work this morning, past the
carrier piers, where USS JOHN C. STENNIS and USS NIMITZ are
parked.
I was running a little late, and
turned the corner by the carrier pier just at 0755. Just in time for morning
colors.
The senior ship on the waterfront will lead this
ceremony, every morning, rain or shine. A bosun’s mate will blow shrilly
on his pipe: “Attention!” Then comes “Present arms,” and
finally, “Carry on.”
Aft, on
the flagstaff, the “ensign” (more commonly known as the American
Flag) will be raised, briskly.
On the
jackstaff, forward, the jack will be raised, simultaneously. Only in port will a
ship wear a jack. And only in port will she fly the ensign aft – at sea,
the ensign flies at the main mast, and never comes down, these
days:
When cruising under
wartime conditions, it is customary to fly the national ensign continuously at
sea, since battle action may be regarded as always imminent. (U.S. Navy
regulations)
The jack we fly these days
is the first Navy jack, also known as the “Don’t Tread on Me”
jack. In my younger days, only the oldest combatant ship in the Navy wore it,
and for a time, when I served aboard INDEPENDENCE, that was our jack. First
flown in 1775 by Commodore Esek Hopkins of the Continental Navy, the flag was a
signal to engage the enemy.
Shortly
after 9/11, Navy leadership made the decision that all warships would fly the
“Don’t Tread on Me” jack, not just the most senior one. And so
they do.
So anyway, turning the corner
this morning as colors were piped, I stopped my car until the brief ceremony was
complete. Beside me was a young Filipino sailor, ramrod straight, and saluting
proudly. At his side, was a graying, 50ish dockworker, with a ponytail, also at
attention, his hard had over his heart. And everywhere on the waterfront,
everyone stopped whatever it was they were doing, and rendered honors to the
flag. And when “carry on” was piped, they went about their
lives.
Now this sort of thing either
warms your heart or it does not. But it is one of those small ceremonies that is
so very commonplace, yet means so much to me. It has gone on in precisely the
same way for over 225 years, day after day. It forms a direct link to the
earliest days of our Republic, and a link as well to the unbroken chain of
Sailors that have served our country so honorably for all of that time – a
sturdy chain that has never yet let the Republic
down.
The oldest, most grizzled Master
Chief, up on that flight deck, watching the color ceremony with a gimlet eye and
brass in his voice, a veteran of two desert wars and perhaps Vietnam was once a
seaman recruit. His leading chief had fought in Korea, and perhaps as well in
World War II. That chief as a seaman served with a man who had sailed around the
world in the Great White Fleet. His chief had sailed up the Mississippi at full
speed, damning the torpedoes. And so on, back to the infant Navy of 1775, the
fighting men who sailed with John Paul Jones, and David Farragut and Hopkins who
first flew that Navy jack, and by flying it meant to clear the decks and prime
the guns for combat. These are our fathers and our
grandfathers.
Somehow the ceremony also
reminded me of an event that took place several years ago, when I was living in
base housing in Fallon, Nevada:
My son,
then 11, was walking his 8-year-old sister to the school bus stop, holding her
hand. I was watching somewhat wistfully, knowing that one day they would grow
up. Although I did not hear the trumpet call, I knew it must have sounded,
because suddenly my son stopped short, and turning his sister to the right,
faced the flagstaff by the front gate. And although I had never taught him to do
so, he stood there at attention while the ensign ran briskly up that flagstaff.
"Pardon
him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and
island are the laws of nature"
-
George Bernard Shaw, "Ceasar and Cleopatra"
Posted @
07:42 PM
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Posted in
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Sendit
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Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." - John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Ceasar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friederich Nietzsche
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