Today Kari Keenan and I attended a funeral. We were both really not looking forward to it because lets face facts...its sad. His name Was Elliot Pearl and he was 96 years old. We knew him from the gym, and I trained his son Marc Pearl for a while. he was a funny, outgoing suave old man. We did crossword puzzles along with Robin Schlosser and Laurie Sandberg behind the desk at the gym. We knew him as smart. He graduated from Harvard and MIT both. he was buried at Arlington Cemetery. where soldiers are buried with highest and full honors. As Kari and I got to Ft Myers, we sat in the chapel and waited. As people started showing up we saw some familiar faces. and the ceremony began. the casket with the flag draped over it walked in by 8 in dress Air Force soldiers. and then the eulogy by his son Marc. what shocked us is the old man we knew was an American HERO and we never knew. Elliot was in 2 tours for 4 years each. fought in WW2 and Korea, and then was in the reserves for 36 years. after getting out of the military went into top secret work for the government doing cryptology. he even FOUNDED the cryptologic school in the Air Force and then again founded another top secret school for the NSA. He was not able to tell anyone including his kids and family what he did. it was a secret until many years later. Kari and I looked at each other and almost BOTH fell of the bench in the church when we heard that. It opened my eyes that this seemingly old helpless man, was cracking codes and fighting in wars! He never said a word. why?, it was unclassified at this time when we would hang out with him, one word, HUMBLE. He didnt want the attention. we then followed the horse drawn carriage with the coffin, which had 2 unmanned horses for the fallen soldier, and a marching band playing songs of America, Air force gunmen, and his sons. We got to the grave site and there was the 21 gun salute, taps played, the folding and presentation of the flag to Marc, bagpipe players to finish the ceremony. an American hero was laid to rest today in full honors and in the most honorable place to be buried. with his Brethren soldiers. Today was one of the the most moving days of my life. to learn of someone who was so selfless for so long, served for so long, never wanted a pat on the back for it, and to see how important he was to the country that they honor him like that. Im now really glad we went. it was a day of celebration. as it should have been RIP Elliot,..thank you.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 03:08:27 +0000
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