- Joined
- Feb 18, 2009
- Messages
- 4,573
Another member contacted me today to ask me a question, and that grew into this:
Conversation with a knife.
Tell me, Old One, so that I may learn: how did did you get to be so old — over seventy, if I remember correctly — and still look so young, be so strong, and be loved and respected by so many?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Well, son, I’ll try to keep the story short, because it’s a story that’s taken me to almost every spot and every climate on earth at one time or another — much too long to tell in great detail.
There was a time, back in the early ’40’s, when America was going into a war — a war not of our choosing — and, sad to say, we were woefully unprepared. The US Marine Corps needed a knife to equip the Marines going into battle in the Pacific. The call went out . . . and I answered. Oh, I wasn’t perfect for the job, so the Corps asked for some changes, which I gladly made. From then on, I accompanied the Marines wherever they went in that bloody war, places like Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan, and many other places too numerous to mention.
There’s a line in the Marine Corps Hymn that says “We have fought in every clime and place where we could take a gun.” Well, son, they have — and I was right there with them. Whenever a Marine needed a strong, sturdy knife — something that they could rely on anytime, any place, for anything — I was there for them. I’ve done everything from opening boxes to digging holes to preparing meals to making stretchers or shelters. Along the way, I’ve saved more than a few lives, too.
It wasn’t just the Marines, though. My fame spread, and soon I was carried by not only Marines, but by sailors, too . . . and every soldier who could get his hands on me.
Well, son, time went on, and my fame grew, and more and more American fighting men came to rely on me. Since the bloody conflict of WW2 I’ve accompanied American servicemen to every place they’ve had to go — places like Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and many others — and I’ve tried to never let them down. Oh, the stories those men could tell, if ever they wanted, but that’s not the point. I don’t do it for the praise, I do it because, well, that’s just what I do: I support those men, wherever they may be, so they can take care of us, and so they can come home again. No need to make a fuss about it.
Now, some say that I’m too old, that I’ve passed my prime, that there are better things out there, nowadays. Well, there may be, after all, but I’m still here, I’m still strong, and I still do all the things that I’ve done for millions over the years, and I do it just as well as I ever did. I hope to be doing it for the next generation, too, just as I have for over 70 years now.
What? You mean you don’t know? Why, I’m KA-BAR, the most famous knife that was ever made. You can rely on me the same way that your grandfather and your father did, because they knew I wouldn’t let them down.
Semper Fi.
Conversation with a knife.
Tell me, Old One, so that I may learn: how did did you get to be so old — over seventy, if I remember correctly — and still look so young, be so strong, and be loved and respected by so many?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Well, son, I’ll try to keep the story short, because it’s a story that’s taken me to almost every spot and every climate on earth at one time or another — much too long to tell in great detail.
There was a time, back in the early ’40’s, when America was going into a war — a war not of our choosing — and, sad to say, we were woefully unprepared. The US Marine Corps needed a knife to equip the Marines going into battle in the Pacific. The call went out . . . and I answered. Oh, I wasn’t perfect for the job, so the Corps asked for some changes, which I gladly made. From then on, I accompanied the Marines wherever they went in that bloody war, places like Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan, and many other places too numerous to mention.
There’s a line in the Marine Corps Hymn that says “We have fought in every clime and place where we could take a gun.” Well, son, they have — and I was right there with them. Whenever a Marine needed a strong, sturdy knife — something that they could rely on anytime, any place, for anything — I was there for them. I’ve done everything from opening boxes to digging holes to preparing meals to making stretchers or shelters. Along the way, I’ve saved more than a few lives, too.
It wasn’t just the Marines, though. My fame spread, and soon I was carried by not only Marines, but by sailors, too . . . and every soldier who could get his hands on me.
Well, son, time went on, and my fame grew, and more and more American fighting men came to rely on me. Since the bloody conflict of WW2 I’ve accompanied American servicemen to every place they’ve had to go — places like Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and many others — and I’ve tried to never let them down. Oh, the stories those men could tell, if ever they wanted, but that’s not the point. I don’t do it for the praise, I do it because, well, that’s just what I do: I support those men, wherever they may be, so they can take care of us, and so they can come home again. No need to make a fuss about it.
Now, some say that I’m too old, that I’ve passed my prime, that there are better things out there, nowadays. Well, there may be, after all, but I’m still here, I’m still strong, and I still do all the things that I’ve done for millions over the years, and I do it just as well as I ever did. I hope to be doing it for the next generation, too, just as I have for over 70 years now.
What? You mean you don’t know? Why, I’m KA-BAR, the most famous knife that was ever made. You can rely on me the same way that your grandfather and your father did, because they knew I wouldn’t let them down.
Semper Fi.
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