Dutch Tile Block

The end of one year and the beginning of another one is a good time for reflection – for taking stock of the past and for making plans for the future. On New Year’s Eve 1968, Master Sgt. William H. Cox and First Sgt. James T. Hollingsworth were huddled inside the bunker in the Marble Mountains of Vietnam. The two comrades made a pact: if both of them survived the war, they’d contact each other every year on New Year’s Eve. It’s a promise they kept the following year, and every year for nearly five decades.  When Cox learned his friend was terminally ill, he went to visit. Hollingsworth asked him to give the eulogy at his funeral and Cox reluctantly agreed. Earlier this year he made good on his last promise. “There’s a bond between Marines that’s different from any other branch of service,” he said. “We’re like brothers.”