PIEDMONT, S.C. – A retired veteran made good on a promise he made nearly five decades ago to a fellow Marine who was holed up in a bunker with him in Vietnam.
On New Year’s Eve 1968, Master Sgt. William H. Cox and First Sgt. James T. Hollingsworth were inside the bunker in the Marble Mountains of Vietnam, according to WXIA. That night, the comrades made a promise to “contact each other every year on New Year’s,” if they survived the war.
Luckily, the men survived the attack, and following the war, they kept their pact to each other.
But when Cox learned that Hollingsworth was terminally ill, he went to visit and was asked to give the eulogy at his funeral.
“I said, ‘Boy, that’s a rough mission you’re assigning me to there,’” Cox said.
Earlier this year, Cox kept his word and stood guard at Hollingsworth’s casket before delivering the tribute.
“There’s a bond between Marines that’s different from any other branch of service. We’re like brothers,” he said.
