P-MAN IV - p. 16              

At this point, LTCOL “Snake” Daulton called his Marine aviators to attention after which they unfurled the American flag. He then read the letter from GEN J. L. Jones, Commandant USMC in tribute to MAJ Nelson, which had miraculously (?) arrived that afternoon:

Dan asked Jim to throw his lei onto the water – which he did, after which Neel threw in her flower. The two majors then folded the flag, presented it to their commander, who in turn passed it on to Jim Nelson, “from a grateful nation”. Bill Belcher followed this presenting a second folded flag to Jim for his mother. I closed the ceremony with the words from Laurence Binyon's poem quoted earlier.

Later we all gathered at a nearby restaurant. Once the meal ended, every Marine at the table, young and old, stood at attention and sang the Marine Corps Hymn. As the words “From the Halls of Montezuma…” came forth, the singers’ pride was palpable. Every person in the restaurant, employee and guest alike, including strangers from many lands (including Japan), paused for this celebration. As viewed by this non-Marine, the unifying spirit expressed in their motto “Semper Fi”, gets ingrained early in a Marine and lasts a lifetime. Bill Cantrell is living proof.

The memorial ended quietly. The emotions of Jim and Neel, of Bill and Mary Alice, of the Marine aviators, and of the team belong with each individual. My own feeling is that the spirit of MAJ Nelson must have stood tall that day in the presence of his son, while we paid homage for his sacrifice and for the sacrifices of all aviators like him. His wingman, LT Robert Dilks, who survived the mission and described MAJ Nelson’s crash in the after action report, was killed in action only a few miles away and only a few days later.

The next morning, as VMFA-225 left Palau, the F-18’s flew a Missing Man formation over Ulebsechel Island, in honor of MAJ Nelson. We were there as they flew over.
 

Page last modified 28 April 2005