The Miseducation of James Hillcrest

James Hillcrest was a fourth generation Marine and you could virtually see the pride he carried when he was in uniform. Every member in his squad would tell you that he was fearless. When it came to taking a hill, James could always be found in the front of the formation. Every time there arose an opportunity to volunteer, James hand would almost go up before the speaker could finish telling them what the mission was. His chest was filled with medals but none of that mattered to James. Many had overheard James say that the reason his hand goes up so often is that if he is willing to sacrifice himself so no one else gets hurt. Not one person in his entire platoon had anything bad to say about James and to a man, they viewed it their job to protect him as much as he wanted to protect them.

What they never saw was that James did have a fear. James had a fear that would cripple him when he was alone in his barracks room. This fear was so great that he would make sure all entries into his room was secured and many times he would have to get up in the middle of the night just to check to make sure. He always sat with his back to the wall when eating chow at the base mess hall and even when he was with his fellow Marines in the on base Enlisted Men's Club. It was like they were dealing with two different James', one who were fearless on operations or during exercises and the other who barely said much except for a smile, handshake and hug during the down time.

When some of his fellow Marines were asked to explain this they had no clue. Even his superiors could not answer that question, for all they knew was that the second James did not hinder the first and the first James was a Marine among Marines. Even when he made his share of mistakes, those same mistakes were quickly corrected and never happened again. The end of his sixth year of enlistment was also the last time he would be able to wear that uniform. The politicians had decided to perform troop reduction in the military and their regulations made it impossible for James to stay a Marine. James had refused to wear any other uniform and was discharged later that year. Before he left, he wrote a letter to his platoon leader and in it explained that fear that some may have seen but none could diagnose.

James Hillcrest was raised in the upper peninsula of Michigan and never seen anyone of a different color before. He had been convinced by his father that those different from him was to be watched constantly and could never be trusted. He was convinced that they would sneak around and kill him if he ever turned his back on them. He was convinced that they were lazy and worthless as humans and all of them should be put on a ship and exiled to some lonely island. This convincing started when he was 3 years old and continued until he left for basic training over 6 years ago. The fear that cripples James was the fear of black people. The change was James now knew the truth, that the character of a person can never be measured by the color of ones skin. The last sentence of his letter read, "I know now that what I have been told is false and now that I know the truth, I shall do all that I can to spread that truth."