Ocean City Marines Bring Ceremony Close to Home

Ocean City marked Veterans Day with its annual ceremony on Monday, and three hometown heroes highlighted the celebration.

Ocean City Police Department Sgt. Michael Tabor, Ocean City Fire Department firefighter Wyatt Clevenger and former Marine Lt. Joseph F. Walters took turns at the podium as keynote speakers.

Tabor joined the Marine Corps in 1983 and served eight years, rising to the rank of sergeant. He flew out on Christmas Day in 1990 and landed in Saudi Arabia to serve in Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf War.

Tabor spoke of an "overwhelming sense of pride" in the shared effort of the Armed Forces that Veterans Day represents.

Clevenger was a Marine Corps Scout Sniper who served in the Iraq War. Clevenger said he witnessed many tragedies during combat duty in Iraq, but he spoke of the ongoing problems many veterans face at home: unemployment, homelessness and increased rates of suicide.

"We as Americans have a responsibility to change this," Clevenger said.

Veterans want to continue to serve their country as they return to civilian life, he said.

Lt. Joseph Walters, an Ocean City resident who served in both the Army and the Marines, told the crowd about his own 9/11 memories — 33 years before the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001.

Walters was part of a Marine platoon that was asked on Sept. 11, 1968, to take the lead in crossing a rice paddy during a seven-day battle for a hill in Vietnam. He spoke of his friend Thomas Steele, a radio man whose hands were shaking when they learned of the mission.

Steele was killed instantly as the North Vietnamese Army opened fire just as the platoon finished crossing the paddy. Walters was shot in the knee, and all but one member of the platoon was killed or wounded.

Walters said the helicopter that evacuated him was so covered in blood that it looked like it was painted red. He later had his leg amputated.

Years later, Walters looked up members of his platoon and company on a veterans website. He found a photograph of Steele and posted a message that included: "You were and are a good Marine, and it was an honor to have served with you."

Family members of Steele contacted Walters and thanked him for helping to remember Steele. 

For Walters, Veterans Day is for showing appreciation to the men and women like Steele: "a good Marine."