Reminiscing on a Grand Scale
Philip
SFC Karen Murdock
06 July 1997
USAR News
Standing on Watkins field while performing the duties of Chief of
Smoke for the Cannonade Detail, SGT Philip Atkins had no idea that the
speech he was about to hear from Lieutenant General Crocker was about
to touch on the WWI statue located at the end of the parade field that
he had been staring at so intensely.
SGT Atkins had been thinking about his grandfathers that day who had
both served during WWI.
After joining the US Army in 1978 during his senior year of high
school, SGT Atkins left home for the US Army's Air Defense Artillery
School located at Fort Bliss, Texas. While stationed at Fort Bliss and
on weekend pass, he decided to visit the museum located on post. It's
a museum in which the officers and senior NCO's horses were stabled
together," Atkins said. He also mentioned "at the time I didn't
realize that my grandfather, Garrett McKinnely Price, had once kept
the horses which were stabled in that very museum." During 1917 and
the days of General John "Blackjack" Pershing, horses were a valuable
resource. The soldiers who took care of the horses also slept in the
same building.
"I had no idea at the time that I was visiting the stable my
grandfather had worked in as a 21 year old soldier, until I returned
home for the annual Christmas break. I was able to share the
information about the museum with my grandfather who had worked in the
stable and had come to live with my mother and father a few years
earlier. We talked quite extensively about his unique tour of duty
just weeks before his death. While he didn't serve in combat during
WWI, also known as the War of Attrition, like my grandfather Sidney
Atkins, he gave me a unique insight about the war with General Poncho
Vila." Poncho on many occcasions had out foxed the soon to be
President Teddy Roosevelt and his rough riders.
As I watched that WWI statue at the end of Watkins field, while
remembering my grandfathers, I began to hear Lt. General Crocker speak
about his grandfather who had faced Poncho Vila during the command of
General Pershing. I soon began to wonder if our grandfathers could
have known each other and I suppose its possible?
Although he hasn't obtained the rank of Staff Sergeant and is nearing
the end of his 20 year career, SGT Atkins was comforted by that WWI
statue at the end of Watkins field. He noticed how the statue was
looking at Mount Rainier, "it was as though I felt my grandfathers
were watching us that day as we graduated that ROTC regiment," said
Atkins. "It was as though they were watching where we were standing on
that parade field and looking at the mountain that day. You can
imagine my surprise when Lt. Gen Crocker mentioned WWI during his
speech and General John 'Blackjack' Pershing," remarked Atkins. "We
were graduating the Black Horse Regiment."
SGT Atkins went on to comment, "a moment passed and I thought, the
only thing that could top this would be a light descending from heaven
on top of that ole statue to represent the future, past and present."
As strange as that sounds, with all the technology available today, a
laser light mounted on top of that WWI statue pointing towards heaven
would make a fine addition indeed, he said. "I think that is what has
happened here today."
SGT Atkins is currently assigned to Detachment 1, 6015th Garrison
Support Unit of the United States Army Reserves, Fort Lewis,
Washington.