I was
honored to attend the memorial for the father of CCT.
Chief Master Sergeant Alcide “Bull”
Sylvio Benni 15 Oct 1921-16 Apr 2015. He
arrived at Ellis Island in 1930 and joined the
Army ten years later. He was captured by
the Japanese 7 Apr 1942 in the Philippines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc2m7Av3L5U
After
internment as a POW he was repatriated, joined the 82nd Airborne
attended Pathfinder school and worked hard to make sure American forces would
not again surrender. He transferred the
USAF and founded the unit that would become Combat Control and later Special
Tactics.
He lived a
full life after the military, he played saxophone and cooked up Italian cuisine
with fixings from his garden. I met his
granddaughter, his brother, his daughter and her husband. The Chaplin played and sang hymnals including
‘Amazing Grace’, ‘How Great Thou Art’, and ‘When the Saints Go Marching
In’. They invited people to speak and I
said a few words.
“The
Battling Bastards of Bataan, no mama, no papa no Uncle Sam; I did not know the
Chief personally. He founded a unit that
gathers all the bastards, orphans and mutants and organizes them to defend this
nation. My wife is from the Philippines. The impact of one man ripples throughout the
world. We stand on the shoulders of
giants.”
It was
evident that he feared God and loved his country. After the family left I went back and knocked
out memorial push ups. The best leaders
inspire one to try your hardest. We will
defend our kin to the death. My brother
from another mother still stands at the gates of hell keeping this country
safe. Many have fallen, more will rise.
I have lived the easy life. Uncle Sam did not abandon me. The Chief formed a team that grew. I used to tie a knot in the string at the
back of my beret for my fallen brothers to remind me of them. It was an added bonus that it pissed the
first sergeants in division off. I quit
tying knots at number twenty one.
The experience as POW slave labor
in the mines eclipses any hardship I can fathom. I thank God that he lived. At one time I wondered why my team leader was
such a hard ass; later I understood that it was because he loved me.
