On New Year’s Eve 1968, just before the dawn of 1969, Master Sgt. William H. Cox and his buddy First Sgt. James T. Hollingsworth were holed up in a bunker in the Marble Mountains of Vietnam.
Rockets and mortars were raining down all around them, or as Cox puts it, “Charlie (the nickname for the North Vietnamese) was really putting on a fireworks show for us.”
As they hunkered down, the two Marines made a pact: “If we survived this attack, or survived Vietnam, we would contact each other every year on New Year’s,” Cox recalled.
For nearly five decades, Cox, who lives in Piedmont, and Hollingsworth, whose nickname was Hollie, kept their promise to each other.
And earlier this year, Cox kept another promise: He stood guard at Hollingsworth’s casket and then delivered the eulogy at his funeral.
Standing guard, without the cane that the 83-year-old normally uses, Cox was paying tribute, one Marine to another.
But in giving the eulogy, he fulfilled his final vow to his friend.
When he learned that Hollingsworth was terminally ill, Cox went to visit, and his old friend Hollie asked Cox to give the eulogy at his funeral.
“I said, ‘Boy, that’s a rough mission you’re assigning me to there,’” Cox said.
.... They flew many combat missions together, and at the end of each mission, they had a saying, which Cox repeated at the close of Hollingsworth’s eulogy: “Hollie, you keep ‘em flying, and I’ll keep ‘em firing.” ...
sideways_cat on March 21st, 2019 at 21:33 UTC »
https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2017/11/10/83-year-old-retired-marine-keeps-promise-made-bunker-vietnam/850811001/
MB380sl on March 21st, 2019 at 22:22 UTC »
.... They flew many combat missions together, and at the end of each mission, they had a saying, which Cox repeated at the close of Hollingsworth’s eulogy: “Hollie, you keep ‘em flying, and I’ll keep ‘em firing.” ...
I'm tearing up as I read this.. what a pal.
Glasspirate on March 21st, 2019 at 22:45 UTC »
From the Halls of Montezuma To the Shores of Tripoli...