Wedding and KaBar
My husband, Rick (USMC 77-80) and I always knew our son, Aaron, was a warrior. In preteen years his bedroom assumed a camouflage identity. In teen years USMC posters were added. At 16 he and his best friend, Austin, worked out with the local poolees. They memorized the hymn, the prayer…if it could be memorized, they did so. The neighbors would see them sparring in our front yard, or running the streets together.
Twelve days after he turned 17 he took us down to sign his early enlistment, which we proudly did. He continued to be a committed poolee only now he and Austin ran the streets in their poolee shirts sometimes carrying the USMC flag Aaron had mounted on a pole.
The plan for years had been to go in on the Buddy program, but plans don’t always work out. It turned out Austin would graduate 2 weeks behind Aaron–and too late to be in Aaron’s wedding as the best man. Aaron asked his Dad to step into that role.
The Bride and I worked hard to create a very classy Marine Corps wedding and feel we really succeeded. We did some things that would set apart this wedding in everyone’s mind. One was having one of the groom’s sisters as a bridesmaid with the bride’s sister, and the other groom’s sister filled the role of “groomsmaid”. The processional was unique, too, in that
Aaron had only graduated four days prior to their wedding, so a sword was out of the question. However, a year or so previous Austin had given Aaron a Ka-Bar for his birthday. So without Aaron knowing, we cleaned it up (with the Bride’s permission, of course!). Rick placed it in his belt at the back under his dress jacket and at the appropriate time the pastor announced that we were departing from tradition just a little. Rick drew the sheathed knife from behind his back and held it out to Aaron for inspection. Aaron drew it out, inspected it and they proceeded to cut the cake. The guests LOVED it! Perhaps Sgt Grit readers will enjoy the pictures, too.
Harriet Cook Proud wife and mother of United States Marines!
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