A Red, White and Blue Evening of Memories

The ancient cry of bagpipes opened the evening at the United States Marine Scholarship Ball. It was the sound of the Los Angeles Police Pipe Band playing at the Century Plaza Hotel, sending forth the atavistic calls on those bellows and reeds, which have called men of valor since before recorded time.

This was the 28th year the Marines have invited friends to a series of celebrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington. The fund-raisers began in 1962, in a New York restaurant, where some former Marines were discussing how to help the children of other Marines. They hit upon the idea of scholarships to help them through college or vocational school.

I went to my first ball nine years ago, and I remember the tingle of pride in our country I felt when I heard the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps.

It was the same the other evening when they marched out from each wing of the ballroom stage, wearing those bright red tunics and white trousers, and the drums and bugles made that huge ballroom ring with golden sound.

Guests at the ball have been invited or cajoled into being there by committee members, who believe in young people and in giving them some help.

The scholarship program has been a roaring success. Nearly 5,000 scholarships have been given to deserving kids since those fellows sat in that restaurant in 1962.

Almost $600,000 was paid out in scholarships in 1989-90. The money taken in at received from the Los Angeles scholarship ball the other night will be more than $200,000, beyond what Bill Lusk, general ball chairman, had pegged as a goal.

Lusk wasn’t there the other night, even after having cajoled all his friends and some acquaintances into buying tickets to the scholarship ball. The night of the ball, he was taking off from London, along with 25 other pilots in antique planes, in a 1941 RAF DH82a Tiger Moth to fly from London to Sydney as a salute to the men and machines who flew the first airmail flight 60 years ago.

Guests at the ball were from Los Angeles and Orange counties, with a scholarship awardee at each table. I was in awe of the poise and easy self-assurance three of the winners showed when they were introduced as a sampling of the kids across the country being rewarded.

Jennifer Caruso from Garden Grove will be going to the University of San Diego and majoring in accounting. She will be a graduate of Bolsa Grande High School this summer. She plays varsity tennis and she wants to be a corporate lawyer. She will be.

James Hamilton of Ontario is going to Cal Poly, Pomona and majoring in mechanical engineering. He wants to be a Marine aviator and will be commissioned a second lieutenant after graduation. He plays tennis, skis, surfs and works part time. His father and his brother are former Marines.

Kimberley Nichols from Westminster will enter Brown University in the fall and major in biology. She placed first in an academic decathlon and was selected her school’s outstanding student for 1989.

The Scarlet and Gold Committee was the group that helped Bill Lusk sweep in any laggards who were even thinking of not attending the ball. Their chairman was a small, energetic, charming woman, Mary Roosevelt, wife of Brig. Gen. James Roosevelt, USMC (Ret.).

These people know how to keep things moving, and where some dinners with high purposes find their guests slipping away as soon as the lights dim, this one was paced like a brisk walk through the park.

The ball committee awarded the Semper Fidelis Award to Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Riley, USMC (Ret.), an Orange County supervisor who has been honored for his work against child abuse and his concern for the environment.

Gen. A. M. Gray, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, lent that unmistakable aura of the man from the Washington headquarters at 8th and I streets. He told the crowd of a recent tour he had made of the Far East and said the quality of the troops was as excellent as ever.

Maj. Pat Coulter, USMC (Ret.) was the master of ceremonies. That’s how you can tell it’s a blue-ribbon Marine event. Pat has been emceeing these since their inception, and I have had the pleasure of hearing him and working with him. One time he picked me up at 4 a.m. to go to Edwards Air Force Base to see a Shuttle landing. He played Irish music on his car cassette all the way. He’s able, funny, professional and a good friend. Now, he’s in the aerospace industry.

I asked Pat how he felt about the changes in our world in the last few months.

He said, “Nobody hates war more than a warrior. I’m delighted to see the lessening of tensions around the world. Those of us who have already served don’t want our sons to go through what we did.”

Pat has two sons.

He added: “We are pleased with the apparent reduction of tensions around the world, and we hope that our country doesn’t overreact in its relief.”

Pat has a voice that sounds like the bass strings of a harp being plucked in a high-ceilinged room. I’ve heard him do Marine birthday balls, air shows, afternoons for retarded children. Whatever he does, it’s masterful.

I saw a lot of old friends and heard the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps and the Los Angeles Police Bagpipe Band, and if those don’t stir you, you haven’t any blood.

And Tex Benecke played for dancing. Even “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.” It was that kind of a night, the kind that makes you proud, an evening when the ancient memories come back softly and are welcome.