Shortly thereafter, he received a touching letter and package from his old boss and mentor. The letter thoughtfully recounted their previous shared experiences and the package contained a pair of Major mess dress shoulder boards. The letter mentioned previous owners and passed ownership of the boards to the new Major.
Not long after, the Major, with his combined enlisted years was nearing 24 years of service. Although they both were happy with their service life, he and his wife compared notes and decided to start a new career. He applied for retirement and along with that, elected to pass the shoulder boards on to a new Major, next in a long line of succession. Rather than present them for wear, he encased them in a commemorative shadow box along with a request to continue the legacy when the time seemed right.
Now, some 35 years later and likely some 55 years since first acquired by Corps Chief Colonel James. Polkinghorn (RIP), the trail of the shoulder boards has gone cold. But perhaps, an MSC who reads this will pick up the trail and the boards will live once again...
Here is some provenance on the trail:
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| Byron wrote this thoughtful history and passed them on to Krzys... |
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| ...who sent this beautifully penned letter stating that he, in turn passed them on to Brian Riggs. |
Brian then passed them on to Mike O'Gorman and that is last we know of. I have not been able to locate Mike. I did track down someone with the same name at the CDC in Atlanta but have been unable to contact him to see if he is indeed the same "Mike."
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