Meeting Washington's Navy Head in San Clemente

It's not every day that you get to meet one of the highest ranking officials in our US Government, but that's just what I did on Monday, Jan. 17th, Martin Luther King's birthday.

Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr., 75th United States Secretary of the Navy, former Mississippi Governor, and former US. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, was on his way to present several awards to our war heroes at Camp Pendleton.

Hearing of this, an old friend of his who lives locally, and Mayor Emeritus Wayne Eggleston, invited Mabus to visit Park Semper Fi and the Marine Monument in the San Clemente Pier Bowl.

He came, and what an impressive man he is, blessed with a warm, welcoming manner that immediately won over our several attending past and present City Council members and 10 or so VIPs on hand to greet him.

At first, we thought asking him to be in a picture would be taboo, but he assured us that it happens all the time and he actually seemed joyous in posing with virtually everyone there.

He shook hands with me, and my husband, Bill Koelzer, President of the Heritage of San Clemente Foundation, and graciously posed for pictures more than a dozen times as very quickly everyone suddenly wanted to be in a picture with him.

Naturally, there were his shadowy, protective figures in dark suits and dark sunglasses, the ones who'd pulled up in three dark SUVs preceding his arrival. And while they stayed watchfully in the background we commented on how they were probably packing a fair amount of iron.

There was a photographer assigned to Mabus, and Bill learned that the young man who must have clicked off some four hundred shots using a camera motor-drive, was a Navy Chief Photographer's Mate assigned to this duty for three years.  Bill, a Navy Veteran, commended to me about what a great job that fellow has, traveling around the world with the SecNav! 

Secretary Mabus said that the park and statue were testaments to the high regard that San Clemente has shown over the years to our military forces. He spent a good amount of time reading the plaques on the statue and on the wall of honor and rememberance inside Park Semper Fi.

As he left, he once again shook hands with most all of us there, smiling graciously with no artifice whatsoever, and left us wishing that his schedule had allowed him more than the hour that he was with us.

Sigh! Sometimes it just pays to be in the right place at the right time. It was an experience to remember.

Debbie Ferrari, Vice President

Heritage of San Clemente Foundation

Visit www.MarineMonument.com to contribute support for Park Semper Fi.