This is the very second fan fiction story made about the 1981 film Taps (which I do not own) and I have the honor of making this. Hope you all read and review this! I'm a truly fan of the movie indeed since 2011, the year of its 30th anniversary, since then I truly love Taps. It's also the first one-chapter full fan fic based on the movie.
Memorial Day: The FIRST full fan fic dedicated to the 1981 classic film Taps
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia
May 30, 2011
1300 HRS
I came on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that day – Memorial Day - to honor the memory of all those who perished in all the wars and military actions of the United States armed services, including from fellow Filipinos who died under the Stars and Stripes especially during the Second World War, when they fought in Bataan and Corregidor 69 years past with their American counterparts.
Well my name is Cadet LTJG JM Ramos from a NJROTC unit in a high school in Virginia and planning to study at The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina where Will McLean and his friends studied in the 60s or at the NROTC unit of the University of Virginia (I was then recovering from the tragic news of Fran Crippen's death 7 months past). After paying my respects to the tomb, guarded by personnel from the US Army's 3rd Infantry Regiment "The Old Guard" I toured the cemetery grounds on my own. My granddad from my mother's side by the way was a former MP in the Philippine Navy, and due to his valuable services to American soldiers who were with him in a few occasions, joining the US Navy as a naval aviator or flight officer is my way of giving back to him. I live in historic Alexandra, VA, just miles from the national capital of Washington, D.C., with Filipino parents both working.
Suddenly a 50 year old military officer in the US Army Reserve was also there. I recognized his face: that of a former military academy cadet that I recently discovered from the Internet. I introduced myself to him and then he told me his name: Alex Dwyer, by now a reserve Brigadier General, United States Army Reserve, and had helped the US military contribution to the relief effort to victims of the Haiti earthquake in 2010. I asked him: Why did you become an Army Reserve officer?
His answer was this: "Because I wanted to continue my duty as an officer even in the Army Reserve since I ended my active duty service 6 years ago as a Colonel." And when I asked him how his dream in the military started, he told me where it all began: as a cadet in Bunker Hill Military Academy and Junior College from middle school till its closure in 1981 under its final superintendent, Brigadier General Harlan Bache, USA (Ret.). He was a friend of the man himself and from his high school days rose from a new plebe to a Cadet Private to being a Cadet Captain and commander of the academy's mounted unit, D Troop for several years, during the closure he was its last commander.
He also told me about his cadet days: "My days in Bunker Hill Academy as a cadet officer in D Troop were the best days of my life. As troop commander, I led them to win in various competitions in equestrian sports, and for a few times was Best Company. D Troop was surely the best company of the Corps of Cadets for me. These years of my life are what I will never forget for all my life. General Bache was surely my mentor and inspiration for me to work my dream of being a military officer in the armored cavalry in the US Army and now in the Army Reserve. I'm surely proud of him and thankful for training me to what I am today." He also said that he was proud to wear that white and yellow pith helmet cap with his full dress and holding his saber leading the troop on parade when he was its leader and commander.
And when I asked him of the friends he had made during his stay, he cried while telling it all to me that for all these 30 years after Bunker Hill closed down, he said, he missed most of the friends he had in the troop and the friends from the other units of the Corps of Cadets and the academy staff, faculty and tactical officers. Then I asked him: "Who were your best friends that you do miss after those years, sir?"
He answered sadly that they were Cadet Major Brian Moreland, the last commander of the Corps of Cadets of BHMAJC, and his roommate and former C Company commander before his promotion to Cadet Major by no less than General Bache himself, and Cadet Captain David Shawn, the red beret wearing and rifle carrying final commander of B Company. He and Dwyer were enemies but were friends of the same commander, but he was more a friend to Brian rather than to David. He still remembers the day they were both killed by machine gun fire from an Army National Guard M48 Patton tank, and he told me the very moments of this very day that took me back to that scene:
One morning, he and Cadet Maj. Moreland were leading the Corps of Cadets of the BHMAJC, after long days of rebellion, to surrender to the ANG detachment commander, Colonel Kerby (the detachment was battalion sized) when Cadet Captain Shawn, staying on the window of one of the buildings, opened fire first with his M-16 rifle and later with his M60 machine gun, wounding the Guardsmen in the process (and almost hurting their commander) resulting to ANG Huey helicopters throwing teargas and the M48 then charged through the gate. Later, they both entered the building, with the ANG commander following them when at last they saw Captain Shawn firing his M60. Major Moreland called him and he answered: "It's beautiful, man! Beautiful!" before the former entered the room. The machine gunner from the tank fired his gun at the window and bullets and gunfire engulfed the place, thus killing them both in the process. A few shots rang out before Cpt. Dwyer entered, and after seeing them both dead, wept at their demise. After Col. Kerby and a few Army Guardsmen saw this, he then carried his dead commander's body out of the building, into the main area and out into the street.
If I was alive back then 30 years past as one of David Shawn's cadets in B Company, I would have called back the other cadets and companies when the siege started, and on that very day upon hearing my commander's last words I would ask everyone to fire on that machine gun and then charge on the tank, kill the crew and then ask the rest to charge on and fire on the Guardsmen while I was helping him fire on them and avoided death by staying on the side and firing back in the right time with my M16 and pointed it on Colonel Kerby when he came, telling him that his siding with the state government and the academy board of trustees on implementing the closure order was to blame and I'm planning to inform the US Congress as well as the state congress on the matter, I thought. Or maybe I was thinking of being shot too with Captain Shawn and Major Moreland and my last words to Captain Dwyer as I lay dying would be "Carry on with the struggle, for I'll die worth defending of Bunker Hill like your friends did, Captain Dwyer..."
After the rebellion he was charged with minor charges for minor particpation, served community service and afterwards studied at VMI before joining the US Army and serving as a tank commander and armored unit leader in many operations of the Army and served the nation during the Gulf Wars and the Afghan War before becoming a reservist – a nod to his BH days indeed keeping his friends and General Bache on his mind always, knowing he would make them proud.
I also talked to him about his two other best friends. Cadet Captain JC Pierce, hurt in a fire while putting oil to the main generator one afternoon, was the A Company commander and another of his friends. Another one was Cadet 1st Lieutenant Edward West of C Company, also another best friend of Cadet Major Moreland and was part of the rebelling cadets for a few days before defecting to the Army National Guard with several cadets. His other friends also included then middle school cadets Charlie Auden and Derek Mellot, truly the best of friends in C Company and with their commander.
This was truly an afternoon to remember. And before I left for home I asked him about his advice on becoming a military academy cadet like him, his response for me to stay focused on my duty, becoming disciplined and fully behaved, and to stand for what is right, just as his friends did.
After that, I said farewell and went on my way home to Alexandra. Before that I passed by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier again, and in time for a memorial ceremony. When Taps was played I fell silent and wearing my flight suit costume for the federal holiday I saluted in honor of all the fallen. I was truly doing the right thing indeed for all those who died worth defending of their country and homeland on a day like this. Afterward, before heading home I proceeded to the grave of John Kennedy and the eternal flame and gave my silent honors, and before leaving I went to the Marine Corps Memorial, a tableau of the Stars and Stripes rising in Iwo Jima's mountains in 1945, with the words of the late FADM Chester Nimitz written on it: "Uncommon valor was a common virtue", about this bloodiest battle that the US Marine Corps fought in the Second World War.
That night I dreamed of being in Charlestown, telling the cadets of the Citadel about what happened on that Memorial Day, and I dream of myself being there on the ring ceremony and thinking of my future, for I know that I'll truly be worth defending of the USA and for all my life will wear that ring and think of that Memorial Day visit to Arlington and Alex Dwyer, the newest friend and mentor I've ever met. 30 years on, the events of the closure of Bunker Hill Academy will never be forgotten by every American citizen and will be always remembered as a part of history.