In addition to currently serving as the Defense Secretary, James Mattis also just recently held the position of serving as the United States Marines Corps general before retiring in 2013. This Veterans Day, Mattis kept the memory of recently deceased soldiers alive in a place known as Section 60 at the Arlington National Ceremony.
The Tribunist reported that Army veteran, David Brown, was paying his respects to two of his friends buried in Section 60, when he noticed Mattis there, by himself. In a Facebook post, Brown noted that Mattis was “Far away from cameras and fanfare.”
This morning, I visited a quiet, out-of-the-way plot of Arlington National Cemetery known as Section 60. Being Veterans…
Posted by David Brown on Saturday, November 11, 2017
Mattis strayed away from attention, but that was not all. In addition to visiting the gravestones of the recently deceased, Brown noted that Mattis availed himself to talking with friends and family also paying their respects. “I watched him listen patiently to stories from surviving friends and family members. An old man visiting his Marine son’s grave told Mattis that he was his boy’s hero; the Warrior Monk smiled sadly and said that the old man’s son was one of his,” Brown noted.
In closing, Brown added that “James Mattis is one of those living legends who transcends politics and ideology. His job is his life, and that job is the welfare of this country and its service members. This Veterans Day, I send a special thanks to James Mattis, for not taking today off.”
While Mattis is currently serving in a Republican administration, he served in the military under Democratic President Barack Obama. Since he retired from the military more recently than seven years ago, Mattis needed a Senatorial waiver to be able to serve in the Trump administration, which was granted with a vote of 98 to 1.