Yesterday I mentioned the three core values taught to all Marine recruits–honor, courage and commitment. Yesterday I posted some quotes about honor. Before I post quotes about courage, I want to share a story about one young man’s courage.
Four years before one young man began his Marine Corprs training, he attended college on a football scholarship. Now this took place back in the fall of 1938. This one young man took a bus from Pennsylvania down to North Carolina.
After taking that bus trip, he arrived at the college, and reported to the officials in charge of the football program. They took him down to the gym. On the way, that young man was stung by a wasp.
Unfazed and courageous, he proceeded on, and took part in a football practice. In the spring of 1940, that same young man did another courageous thing. He walked off the football field, because he was disgusted with the way that the football players were treated.
The college respected the amount of effort that the football player and student had put into his time on the field. They thus worked with him, and they found altenate ways for him to pay for his last two years at the college.
His courage paid off. Later he took that same courage into his Marine Corps training. He became an officer in the Marine Corps during the summer of 1942.
Tomorrow I will post some quotes that offer more information about courage.
