John Basilone was a traditional guy. He loved his country and he loved the brothers he fought with. However, he wanted more than anything else to have a wife and family of his own. He is quoted to have said, “I wanted to know how it was to love somebody the way Pop loved Mama. At least I wanted a few days, or weeks if I could get it, to know what it is like to be married. I wanted to be able to say, ‘I love you’ a few times and mean it.” (Quote from Hero of the Pacific, James Brady)
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John Basilone wasn’t just a fierce warrior whose men would follow him to the death though. While John is rightfully famous as a decorated American hero and Marine Corps legend, he was a family man. After coming back home from Guadalcanal, he received incredible amounts of publicity. He was offered options with Hollywood, was asked to be a leading figure in parades, and he even got to meet the president.
Girls threw themselves at him. Sounds like a dream come true right? Not for John. He never found happiness in the spotlight. He was a traditional guy. He loved his country and he loved the brothers he fought with. However, he wanted more than anything else to have a wife and family of his own.
He is quoted to have said, “I wanted to know how it was to love somebody the way Pop loved Mama. At least I wanted a few days, or weeks if I could get it, to know what it is like to be married. I wanted to be able to say, ‘I love you’ a few times and mean it.” (Quote from Hero of the Pacific, James Brady)
Remember my story earlier about John’s upbringing? One of the greatest things his dad taught him about being a man that secured John’s legacy of an incredible love story was the living example of what it meant to love a wife well, John’s mom.
John eventually found his gal in the serving line of a chow hall on Camp Pendleton. The love of his life was named Lena Mae Riggi, a Marine Sergeant serving as a cook in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. Her fellow female Marines were starry eyed about him and his heroism, but she wasn’t impressed because she felt he was just another one of the many male Marines looking for some loving after coming home from combat where they hadn’t seen a woman in months if not years.
John liked her independence though and saw in her exactly the type of woman he was looking for. He’s quoted as saying, “I nodded and she might have nodded, or not, but she wasn’t falling over herself to get to know me. I liked this girl. She was tough.” (Hero of the Pacific, John Brady).
John and Lena fell in love overnight. Just weeks before Basilone would return back to the Pacific theater, they decided to get married Marine Corps style (by that I mean with little delay) at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church in Oceanside, CA. A month after getting married, they bid farewell in a Camp Pendleton chow hall. “We talked of our life after the war-what we would name the first boy and the first girl. She held up pretty well while we talked. She didn’t cry, and pretended she was ok…I told her, ‘I’m coming back,’ and she believed me. (Hero of the Pacific, John Brady).
The romance was quick, fast, and in a hurry, the conditions not ideal, but it seems as if John and Lena would live a long life together. According to Lena’s niece, Lena would always be heard saying, “Great love only happens once.” For Lena though, her ‘great love” never came back home. He was killed in the Battle of Iwo Jima just seven months after getting married. Lena was young, 32 years old to be exact at the time of his passing, but she never remarried.
When Lena died in the late 1990s, she was still wearing the wedding ring that John gave her. (Great Love Happens Once: The Enduring Story of John and Lena Basilone, Cpl Teagan Fredericks, USMC). A former supervisor of mine by the name of Susan and I were discussing how Lena never got married again after being such a young widow as we chatted as about Susan’s dad, a Marine combat veteran of the Pacific who married her mom whom he met when she was a Marine Woman Reserve at what later became MCAS Miramar during the WWII era. Susan simply said something to the effect of, “How could she marry again after loving such a great man?” I had nothing to say to that.
Does this type of love and commitment come from being good in bed or being a great provider? Hardly. Have you ever wondered why the wives of warriors like Navy SEALs Chris Kyle or Adam Brown, although imperfect men, husbands, and fathers, somehow inspire a deep loyalty and inspiration to their wives and children long after they are gone? How does this happen? What is the application for us who serve in the profession of arms?
We'll continue tomorrow with part 3 of this series to fast forward in history to the story of another Marine similiar to John Basilone except from the 21st century who serves in the USMC EOD community and has operational experience with the Marine Raiders. Until then, land of the free because of the brave!
Fit for the Fight and Life,
Chris Reardon
Founder/Director
Freedom Fitness America
Email: chris@freedomfitnessamerica.org
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisreardon7872/